As a working mama with four businesses and one very active 7-month-old, I’ll admit that me time is pretty hard to come by! But last weekend we traveled up to my parents place, which is about 7 hours up the coast, and mum and dad looked after Izzy while my hubby and I went on a date - cocktails, good pizza, even better gelato! That time together refilled my love cup, it was so special. I’m still waiting excitedly for the day when I can sneak in a massage or a pedicure… that chance hasn’t arrived yet since having my daughter!

I’m obviously a big advocate of living your healthiest lifestyle, which gives you the best chance of living your best and most engaged life and chasing your biggest, most audacious dreams. For me, both sleep and reading are incredible ways to recharge, so just going to bed early with a good book is a beautiful treat. Coming in a very close second is finding time to workout - that’s so much harder these days, but so much more rewarding too and YES I count a walk in the sunshine as exercise! It’s all about creating a movement culture for your life. I’ve also loved getting back to instructing at @bufgirls and @agogabondi - just going back to work in the job I love so much has given me back a piece of myself!

I’d say don’t put pressure on yourself if you’re not finding time for big chunks of me time, just focus on little slices of time and be really present in them, like sitting with a cup of tea, reading a book in bed, getting to an exercise class or even just doing 10 minutes of movement at home, taking a long walk while your bub sleeps, or playing with them in the park… take whatever you can get but DO NOT fill those precious moments with scrolling instagram. Be present, soak up your surrounds, ditch the socials and the tech for a bit.

I try my best to steal little moments for myself through the week (I don’t think I can even say day!) and the last time I did something quite impactful for myself was about 2 weeks ago when I was seen by Margot Leviton (@vancouverhealer on IG). She introduced me to the healing world of Myofascial Release, Craniosacral Therapy and Visceral Manipulations with a Healer’s touch. It was an extraordinary hour session of restoring my ribcage, hips and more to their rightful position after 3 years of my body going through the motions of pregnancy, childbirth, breastfeeding, carrying my baby (now toddler) around and so much more. I didn’t realize how much of myself was thrown out of place. It made me realize I need to incorporate more physical and mental healing into my routine.

I have to schedule my ‘me time’ so I wake up at 5am and get 1-2 hours of quiet time before my children wake up. I spend this time with a short meditation, a cup of tea and anything else I feel like doing while its quiet. I also do pilates twice a week which is my non negotiable.

My self care activities include pilates, reading and phone calls to my best friends who both live overseas. My favourite thing of all when I have the time is to put comedy on netflix and watch something that makes me laugh for an hour.  Anytime I get the rare opportunity to go out a night I try and take it, I leave the kids with my parent or husband.

I took me years to understand how important self care was for my wellbeing. When my children were newborn and I was having sleepless nights, it was harder to find time and I often spent my ‘me time’ taking a nap 🙂 but as they get older I make sure I wake up before my children and do something that fills my cup, I never use this time to clean or do chores.  My top advice is to ask for help, especially from your partner and never ever feel guilty for taking care of your wellbeing and mindset. I want to set an example for my children that looking after your own happiness is important.