Fall In Love With Yourself Mommy! Being Happy From Within Will Make For Happiness All Around!

Only when one is truly happy from within, can they spread joy to others. A thoughtful post for today’s woman.

Haven’t we heard this time and again – and it resonates so well with me. I could imagine a situation where there is something making me feel low, don’t think I could do a good job of spreading cheer around me. Of course we all face problems in life – work related stress and issues, financial ones, a tiff with a dear one.

We cannot expect a fairy tale life where everything is picture perfect and happily ever after is only a myth. No, this is a part of life and it would be foolish to expect a problem free life.

Once we become moms, the responsibility of raising our kids, nurturing them, tending to them in sickness and so much more takes up most of our time. To that, add the household chores, attending to other family members needs , and if you are working then 10-12 hours a day are anyway spent at the workplace. So when do we get time to indulge in things we like?

Do we ever think of it at all or are we so caught up in the daily grind that we just overlook it?

Motherhood changes everything

Coming to the question of how we perceive ourselves, this is again an area where we are always pulling a face or frowning on catching glimpse of ourselves in the mirror. Ouch that fat in the tummy, the stretch marks, does that sound familiar?

Motherhood alters life and it comes with a lot of physical changes too. Expecting to look like that 22 year old just fresh from college is indeed stupid. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying use motherhood as an excuse to feast on what you like, get complacent about your body. Absolutely not. We do need to watch out what we eat, try and exercise, if not at the gym then at least by alternative means like using the stairs instead of elevator, try mopping the floor? That works wonders!

What should really matter?

Personally I was never a health or fitness freak. When I got pregnant I would often worry if I would fit into my pre-pregnancy clothes. I would stare at the rows of one piece dresses, skirts and high heels and sigh “I cannot imagine giving away all of this lovely stuff”.

Luckily I did not put on on too much weight during my pregnancy and was back to my usual weight in a few months. So luckily most of my clothes do fit me and I I am more than happy to buy new ones for those that I discarded. After all when it comes to shopping, the more, the merrier.

What I could not get rid of though is the stretch marks – when I used to look at them I would cringe. But one day I just thought, “well the clothes I wear conceal them anyways and I do not see myself in a bikini ever so how does it matter?”

From that day when I look at them there is no frown. They are the signs of my body that carried my beautiful Angel and that’s how I look at them.

I recall I was 2 kgs short of my ideal weight and it used to drive me crazy. I switched to sugar free, used the stairs even at the risk of tripping in my high heels, watched my diet closely and tried to avoid fried foods, chocolates but nothing worked. The scale refused to budge.

You need to stop fretting about it

Then one day I stopped fretting about it, I simply let it be and when I checked my weight casually one day I was back to my ideal weight. I realised that over-analysing and over-thinking about something only causes harm. As mommies it’s important to take care of our body, but it’s equally important to love and nurture it. It’s important to dress well, stay well groomed and if you like make up, go for it. Please don’t stop yourself saying that, “Oh I am a Mom who will look at me?” The utmost damage you would do is to yourself.

Love yourself

Akshata Ram

An avid reader, a shopaholic, head over heels in love with my little bundle of

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