You know that feeling. That sinking, ball of lead in the pit of your stomach, suddenly so exhausted feeling that you can hardly keep your eyes open. Maybe it was some bad news. Or maybe another mom at school drop-off made you feel not good enough. Maybe you’ve been refereeing your kids since 6 am and you have just HAD it. Maybe a simple “what do you want for dinner” conversation with the hubby turned into a code red, “do you ever listen to me?” fight.
Ugh. Isn’t it amazing how a day can turn bad quicker than your toddler can decide they suddenly hate pizza (whaaaaat? Who hates pizza?! My kid. That’s who.)
And that just ain’t right.
We work too hard and have too many positive intentions to let a day go to waste with negativity or depression or simple boredom. The truth is, we feel negative emotions much stronger than we feel positive emotions, so we have to fight back, sisters! We can’t let the sad win! We have to prepare for these moments like Wonder Woman prepares to take down the god Ares. With a killer set of over the knee boots and some hair that makes Rapunzel jealous, obvi. What we need is an arsenal of positivity at our fingertips.
We’ve got your back, mama. Here are 7 ways to turn your day around in 5 minutes or less.
1.) Keep an uplifting book on your kitchen counter. Whenever you feel the heaviness creep in, stop whatever you are doing. Pick up that book and read a few pages. Let the words give you a swift mental kick in the booty, and feel it change your thought process immediately. The inspiring words of self-love, gratitude, and determination will fill you up again. Need some book inspiration? Our latest favorites are on our highlighted Insta Story entitled “Books”.
2.) Create a positive vibes only Pinterest Board and title it “Inspiration”. Collect images with all the things that inspire you to be the best woman you can be. Where do you want to travel? Find images of that. What quotes make you feel strong and empowered? Find pictures of that. Don’t pin anything that leaves you feeling wanting, only allow those images that make you feel strong, sexy, determined, and happy. Then scroll through that board when you need a sweet ‘lil cheerleader on your shoulder. Check out our “Inspiration” board to get started.
3.) Download inspiring songs that never fail to make you dance or make you smile. Make sure they are on your phone, and turn one on whenever you need a pick me up. Start with “Kinder” by Copper Wimin. Or simply turn on a Pandora or Spotify station that will keep an ongoing stream of inspiring music playing. No one ever had a bad day belting out the entire Wicked soundtrack from beginning to end. Trust me on this one.
4.) Make an “Affirmation” page in the notes on your phone. Write down your personal mission statement as a woman, your reasons WHY you want the life you want, and some simple positive phrases that remind you to choose joy. Then when you’re feeling blue, read through these affirmations and pick one that resonates with you at the moment. Repeat it to yourself over and over until you begin to feel lighter.
5.) Breathe! Set your timer for 3 minutes and close your eyes. Start to deepen your breath. On the inhale, think the sound “sat” (rhymes with not). On the exhale, think the sound “nam” (rhymes with mom – fitting!). Sat nam means “truth” or “truth is my identity.” Keep saying this phrase, coinciding with your inhale and exhale until your timer goes off.
6.) Drop down and do a few vinyasas. This exercise is even better if you are in the middle of Target and your child is screaming for yet another Paw Patrol Pup. The looks alone from other people as you are in Down Dog will be satisfying enough.
7.) Do not, I repeat, do NOT get on any social media until the crisis has passed. I’m serious. Just say no to the Insta and the FB and the Snapchat and the Twitter in your life. When you are struggling with something, it is not the time to go into other people’s worlds of photo shopped perfection. This is a time to work on you. Alone. It is the time to focus on your goals, your gifts, and your authenticity. To remember why you love yourself and your life. To heal whatever is aching and just take a break from all the noise and distraction around you.
Ah…feels better already, am I right? You CAN do this. You have the ability to turn a heck no day into a heck yes one. But our thoughts have power. And like attracts like. So if you don’t prepare for the bad moments, you’ll never defeat them. And come on, if we pack diaper bags the size of Texas in preparation for a possible armageddon, why not pack some tools for our own personal mini armageddons as well?
“ ‘There are always flowers for those that want to see them.’
~Henri Matisse, Artist
Attitude will make or break our daily journey through motherhood. How do we keep the peaceful, positive, and powerful tone we set for ourselves this morning last all day long? It’s simple. We choose. We decide to see the flowers. And we see them. Happy people attract happiness. Negative people attract sadness. Moody people attract chaos. Distracted people attract disrespect. What do you choose to attract today?”
-Excerpt from The Daily Soul Sessions For Every Mama book
The Daily Soul Sessions tribe consists of sisters Kate, Kacey, and Kara Coppola. Their mission is to offer a consistent – and short! – daily practice for moms to come back to themselves and find creativity and inspiration through the grind of motherhood. We do this through our books (The Daily Soul Sessions For Every Mama and The Daily Soul Sessions For The Pregnant Mama), our 30 Day Journaling Challenge for Moms, and our social media tribe!
