July: Time
Drumroll. This month’s theme is: TIME. You chose it through our IG poll and now we’re going to get down to the nitty-gritty of how to make MORE of it, how to make it stand STILL at times, and other times make it go FASTER. You ask the question and I’ll answer, Q&A style. How do you balance work & motherhood? I don’t! For me, balancing feels like fear — it feels like walking on a tight rope that I could fall off of at any moment. Priorities feel like grounded intentionality and confidence. I try to schedule my life around my top 3 priorities and I do my best to FORGET EVERYTHING ELSE, especially other people’s expectations of me. At the end of it all, coming to truly, deeply, completely understand that what you do is exactly enough is EVERYTHING. It’s your life and your journey and what you’re doing is MORE than enough. How do you adjust from trying to “kill” time with small kids to pleasantly powering through? Be intentional! My favorite way to plan my day with babies and toddlers is by “blocks of time” rather than a full-on schedule. (ex: 9-11 outdoor play, 11-12 lunch and clean up, 12-1 reading time, 1-3 nap time (or quiet time if nobody sleeps!), 3-4 park and snacks, etc.) It gives some rhythm to your day without overly controlling it. Above all, know your “what”. When I feel like I’m in a rut as a mother, I use it as a red flag that I need to spend some time connecting with what kind of a mom I want to be and what kind of an experience I want to have when I’m with them (and vice-versa). When I feel connected to those two “what’s” then my time with them feels so different. How do I run a company and be a mother and a wife? Fulfilling those three roles is easy. Letting go of everyone else’s expectations of what those three roles should look like is the hard part. How can I have quality time with my little one when I’m in the first trimester and exhausted? Your suffering is caused by the thought that “quality time” should look as it did before your pregnancy, which of course it doesn’t. The only thing keeping you from enjoying quality time with your little one is you thinking it should look differently than it does. Accept this time for what it is, and who you both are right now, and it will be exactly what you both need. Promise. 
+ Fast, fresh, easy meals. Here are my tops this summer:
Watermelon Tomato and Feta Salad Chicken Foil Packet Dinner 18 Healthy Summer Recipes
+ It’s easy to get lost in our kids’ activities this summer and not plan anything for us! My husband gave me a subscription to Masterclass for my birthday and I am OBSESSED. Alice Waters’ class on home cooking and Shonda Rhimes’ writing class are my favorites. + Read Atomic Habits + Identify your top 3 priorities in your life right now. Now open up your calendar and remove two things from it that don’t support one of those 3 priorities. + Listen to this podcast episode on prioritizing life according to your hormone cycle! Life changing!
