By Tiffany Day
As I continue to blog about self-care throughout the summer, I am learning that emotional self-care is one of the most important aspects of self-care. Emotional self-care is different than other forms of self care because, even though self care influences your emotions, emotional self care specifically addresses the emotions you’re processing on a daily basis during a particular season of your life. Emotional self care is caring for your emotional needs by identifying what it is you’re feeling, and it focuses on moving forward in a way that honors yourself and those emotions.
It’s natural to feel overwhelmed being a mommy. We have so many hats that we have to wear. We are the taxi, the chef, the therapist, the disciplinary, the teacher, etc. I can go on and on about the various hats that we must wear no matter how we feel. How we manage our emotions will determine how effective we are while wearing these hats for our children.
I had to learn to manage my emotions in a major way. I lost my mother on May 17, 2019. She was diagnosed with stage four liver cancer in early April and was given 6 months to live. Imagine having to manage your emotions while still trying to wear those various hats as a mother. Each day I’m trying to hold back emotions to remain strong for my little girl. I was strong in public while breaking down in private.
One night as everything was going on, God put it on my heart to just journal: write down what is on your heart. RELEASE IT. I began to journal about my emotions, my memories of her, what I should’ve said but didn’t, and my thoughts. As I was journaling, I identified the hurt, the grief, the void, and how it was influencing me to parent my child. I was very short with her. Anybody been there before? In the middle of it all, I was also able to realize that it was okay for me to feel the all of the emotions.
The first step to practicing emotional self care is to understand that you are in control of your emotions. It is not the other way around. It is ok to feel what you feel. Grief is forward moving. You must acknowledge it in order to move forward with the proper steps. You can acknowledge it by journaling, therapy, prayer, communicating with family or friends will definitely help you to practice emotional self care. Is there anything that you’d recommend? We’d love to hear. You can comment below or meet us at the next Mama Meet Up on Friday, July 12.