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Self-care for moms is not an easy thing.  You have kids, and work, and a husband (who may be needier than the kids), a house to keep clean and food to cook. With so much going on it’s really difficult to find time for a self-care routine. Often, examples of self-care include things that take up a lot of time like baths and long walks in the park. Those are great when you can find 30+ minutes to yourself. When you have less than 5 minutes to spare, these self-care tips will help you make the most of that precious time. The free printable self-care checklist below has even more self-care ideas included.

Why You Need A Quick Self Care Routine

It may be preaching to the choir, but you need to put your oxygen mask on first. One way to do this, in real life, is to practice daily self-care. As a working mom you might not, always have 30 minutes or more in a day but it’s likely you can find 5 minutes for a quick self-care routine. Following are ideas that take less than 5 minutes you can add to your self-care checklist.

Quick Self Care Tips for moms

It’s true that finding even 5 minutes in a day for self-care can seem hard at first. Once you start thinking about it in a different way it gets easier. Self-care for moms not only can, but needs to happen everywhere, not just when you’re home alone. Some places you can practice a quick self-care routine are, on your commute, when you’re at work, when you’re waiting in a long line, when you’re sitting in your car, or even in the bathroom.  The self-care tip here is to take seemingly wasted moments and put them to use. If you want to start to track your self-care, you can download the self-care checklist below.

Self-Care For Moms Anywhere

Now, here are 4 examples of self-care you can practice almost anywhere at any given time. Don’t forget there are even more examples in the self-care checklist below.

1 Minute Self-Care Idea For Moms

Yes, you are breathing all time.  But all too often our breaths are shallow or quick. As the stress of the day builds up our ability to breathe deeply goes down. Your breath has a direct correlation to the stress levels in your body. So, taking just 1 minute to breathe slowly and deeply is an example of self-care that immediately helps. This is a great one to do while you are waiting in line. 

IF YOU HAVE 1 MINUTE DO CONSCIOUS BREATHING

You could close your eyes but you may feel a little silly doing that while waiting to check out so instead you can fix your gaze on something in the distance. Once you’ve done that take 10 slow deep breaths in and out. With each breath relax a different part of your body. Let your tongue fall from the top of your mouth, let your shoulders relax, let your toes get un-scrunched.  Taking a moment to breathe and relax your body is an example of self-care you can do in less 1 than one minute.

2 Minute Self-Care Idea For Moms

Gratitude is key to living a life you love and feeling your best which leads it to be an integral part of self-care.  So, one way to take care of yourself is to constantly remind yourself of the good you have in your life. If you don’t already have writing thank you cards as a part of your self-care routine, add it. You might not be able to pull out a pen, card and stamp in two minutes but you sure can whip out your phone and send a text. Now, sending text takes 30 seconds, so what do you do with the other 90 seconds? You dwell on the positive thought.

IF YOU HAVE 2 MINUTES SEND A THANK YOU TEXT

So, here’s the self-care idea: think about someone in your life you are grateful for and send them a thank you text.

It could be someone you see every day or once a year. Why are you grateful for them? What are they bringing into your life? Take a few moments to reflect on that and feel all the warm and fuzzies. Pass those warm and fuzzies on to that person via text. Here’s an example of what you might write:

Hi! <insert name> I was just thinking about how awesome you are and how grateful I am you’re in my life. Thanks for being you.

The most awesome part of this 2 minutes self-care example is that it not only helps you but will bring some joy to the day of a person you care about.

3 Minute Self-Care Idea For Moms

Tensions builds up in our bodies throughout the day. Thinking about self-care for moms includes focusing on relieving that tension. Being stressed and tight can lead to being irritable and short with them ones you love even when you don’t mean to. It also just leaves you feeling downright uncomfortable. Stretching is a great activity to add to your self-care list. If you have 3 minutes, stretch your body.

IF YOU HAVE 3 MINUTES STRETCH

Take a deep breath and stretch it out. Stretch your arms above your head. Lean from one side to the other. Bend over and touch your toes. If you’re not in public, do a little downward dog or happy baby yoga pose. 3 minutes of stretching at any time of the day will do your body a world of good.

4 Minute Self-Care Idea For Moms

Crank up tunes and rock it out. Listening to your favorite tune is its own form of caring for yourself, but if you can move your body along with that music you’ll feel even better.

IF YOU HAVE 4 MINUTES: DANCE

Pause for a moment to feel the rhythm. If you’re home turn up the stereo, if you’re in your car crank up the volume and move.  This self-care example is even more fun with friends, but there is something to be said about dancing with yourself.

Pick The Quick Self Care Idea For Moms that works for you

Self-care for moms is so important. The great thing is, it doesn’t have to take a long time, be complicated or expensive.  Choose one of the ideas above and take 1, 2, 3 or 4 minutes today and add it to your self-care routine. If you want a better way to track your progress or more self-care ideas. Download the free printable self-care checklist below.

If you’re looking for better ways to start the day. Check out these 3 morning routine ideas designed to help moms start the day of right.

Want to remember this post and the 4 ideas for self-care that take 4 minutes or less? Post this “Self Care For Moms Who Have No Time” article to your favorite Pinterest board.