Desiree's Episode: Simple Self-Care Habits for Moms to Check In and Plan for the New Year

In this first community-led episode of the Everwell Mama Podcast, Siobhan explores simple self-care habits to help busy moms kick off the new year with intention and balance. This episode is packed with practical tools to help you check in with yourself, set boundaries, and create habits that stick. Siobhan shares her personal experience with burnout and the transformative power of small, consistent self-care practices.

In this episode, you’ll learn

• How to start your day with a mindful self-check-in.
• Practical ways to set boundaries that protect your energy.
• Why movement and nature can be quick but powerful resets.
• Easy self-care tools like EFT tapping, face yoga, and journaling.
• The importance of creating intentional space to reconnect with your needs.

Noteworthy quotes from this episode

"Checking in with yourself does not need to be complicated. It just starts with one simple question: What do I need today?"

"When you're ignoring those needs and you're ignoring those little check-ins for too long, it doesn't just impact you. It affects your family, your work, and everything else that you're trying to manage."

“…for me, knowing that whatever feels really big right now isn’t really big in the grand scheme of things helps me to really just take that deep breath and know that everything is going to be fine."

"By stacking this habit of asking yourself that question on top of those other habits like morning coffee or brushing teeth or driving in the car, it'll make it easier to stick to it."

"These tools and practices can help you reconnect with your needs. Remember, we're not overhauling your life, so start by choosing just one or two that resonate with you."

Your New Year Energy Reset Starts Here

Ready to dive deeper into creating sustainable self-care habits that energize you? Let’s chat! Book an Energy Strategy call here, or DM me on Instagram at @EverwellCoaching to start the conversation. Together, we’ll create a plan that fits your life and helps you thrive in 2025.

Connect with Siobhan

• Tired of being tired? Go from “Too Tired” to “Ready for Anything” with Siobhan’s 21 Energy Hacks
• Ready to reclaim your energy and wellness, Mama? DM Siobhan on Instagram for details about her coaching services.
• Instagram: @everwellcoaching

About Siobhan

Siobhan Bingham coaches working moms to boost their energy to show up better for their kids, their partner, their work, and themselves. Using her ALIGN framework, she provides personalized strategies to break free from exhaustion and create a daily rhythm that works with your life—not against it.

Chapters

• 1:39 Why Checking In with Yourself Matters
• 3:32 Simple Habits
• 7:53 10 Tools to Help You Check In

Transcript

 Hey Mama, welcome to the Everwell Mama podcast, the place where we explore simple, sustainable, self care, and wellness strategies to help you feel your best while managing your busy life. I'm Siobhan Bingham. A holistic life and wellness coach here to guide you as we uncover practical tools that will actually stick so you can enjoy self care without the guilt trip.

Whether you're a new listener or returning for more, I'm so glad you're here. Let's dive into the next step on your journey to becoming an ever well mama.

Hey ladies, welcome back. The holidays are now behind us, and I hope that your reset has given you that little spark of motivation that comes with starting fresh. In today's episode, we're diving into something that's simple, meaningful, and totally doable. Self care habits to help moms like you check in with yourself and create a gentle plan for the new year.

And this is a really special episode to me because it's our very first community member episode. Desiree, this episode is for you, and I hope that it is everything that you need right now. Speaking of habits, I don't want you to shrivel up and think I'm going to start harping on you about new year, new you.

No, no, no. This is about taking small, intentional steps that actually work. By the end of this episode, you'll have a few simple tools to help you tune into your needs and set yourself up for a balanced and fulfilling year. So, let's dive in! As moms, we're juggling everything. Between family, work, and all the little fires that we put out daily, it's no wonder we forget to check in with ourselves.

But, here's the thing, when you're ignoring those needs and you're ignoring those little check ins for too long, it doesn't just impact you. It affects your family, your work, and everything else that you're trying to manage. And I'm gonna get really real with you here for a second and tell you about a time when I was really running on it.

See, I was doing all the things I was making dinner, lunches, answering mommy for the 500th time since I got home from work. And I was starting on the bedtime routine. My little one at the time was one and she had had a nap that day, even though she had dropped off for naps and she was not ready to go to sleep at that time, even though I was ready to go to sleep right after work.

And to be honest, I just lost it. I ended up yelling at my poor baby to just go to freaking sleep already. And we both ended up crying ourselves to sleep that night because that wasn't who I wanted to be. And really, that's when things began to shift for me. I realized that I needed to check in with myself more often to get the supports that I needed, so that I wasn't gonna blow up on my one year old.

And when you're able to check in with yourself, I hope that it helps you to show up more fully for your family, your work, and yourself. And I have good news. Checking in with yourself does not need to be complicated. It just starts with one simple question. What do I need today? Maybe it's five minutes of quiet, quick walk, drinking your coffee while it's still hot, or maybe just not having anyone ask you for another snack.

And here are a few habits that you can try in order to start that self care check in process. The first one is a mindful moment. The easiest way to do it is to use some transitionary time. Things like your morning coffee, brushing your teeth, or driving and in the car. Ask yourself that question in the morning.

What do I need today? And by stacking this habit of asking yourself that question on top of those other habits like morning coffee or brushing teeth or driving in the car, it'll make it easier to stick to it. Then, you're gonna need to set some boundaries. And I know that you've heard me say this before, but I'm gonna say it again.

You've gotta start with something manageable, like setting aside 10 minutes of quiet time for yourself each evening. For me, as you know. Setting the time limit feature on my phone was so helpful. It helps me to have that mental space to unwind and recharge, and make sure that I am focusing on reading my books, which is my intention for in the evening.

But really, it's all about finding what works for you. Then, saying no more often. You can protect your energy by being selective about what commitments you're doing. There is a bajillion things and activities that your kids could be signed up for and could be doing, but You don't necessarily need to be doing all of them, right?

You don't necessarily need to be the one who's running all of those extra committees at work or taking on that extra project right now. You have to think about what do you really have the energy for to take on right now and say no to the rest. And that doesn't mean that you're saying no forever, it just means no right now.

And then if the beginning of your day is totally wild and you have no time to be getting things. organized, then maybe before bed, it's a better time for you to have a daily reflection. You're just taking that moment to reflect. How did your day go? What could be better for tomorrow? One of my favorite ways to do this, and I still do this with my daughter.

I've been playing this game for years now. I started it at summer camp that I used to work at. And the game is Roses, Thorn, and Buds. The roses of your day are the best parts of your day. What were the things that you were really excited about? Those beautiful flowers. Then you've got your thorns. Those are the not so nice parts of your day.

And then the buds are the flowers that haven't quite bloomed yet. Those are the things that you're excited about for tomorrow. The things that you're excited about that are coming up. So, try that and tell me how it goes. Now, checking in with yourself requires some intentional space. It could be mental, physical, or emotional space.

It doesn't have to be a big production, but it does need some focus. Here's what I've learned, personally. I cannot check in with myself in the middle of chaos. I need a few moments of quiet to really reflect. Because otherwise my head is just being pulled in all of these different directions and I can't focus on what I actually need right now.

I'm focused on what everyone else needs in that moment of chaos. So I want to give you some practical ways to kind of create that space. It could be setting the scene, right? Just like at a romantic date, you could light a candle for yourself, you could play some calming music, or maybe you just have one chair or a little cozy corner that you go to sit and that is your mental sign that now is the time for you to be reflecting.

Then, again, you could use transitional times to help you to remember to create that space. It could be like school drop off, nap time, it could be the car ride home from work, whatever it is. These are all great opportunities for little self check ins. For me, I don't always get to do this, but my favorite is being able to step outside for some fresh air, even for just five minutes, because getting that vitamin D, getting that fresh air, getting that movement in works wonders for me.

I love going for walks. I can't say that enough. Now that we know kind of the space that we need, let's get into the actual tools that you can try. All right. And I could probably ramble on for days, with the many modalities and ways that you can check in with yourself. So I'm gonna limit myself to just 10.

And these tools and practices can help you reconnect with your needs. Remember, we're not overhauling your life, so start by choosing just one or two that resonate with you. Try them out for a little bit, see if they fit. It's like shoes, right? See if the shoe fits. And if it does, you can make them a part of routine.

And if they don't, put those ones back, try something else. Thanks. The first tool is journaling. I put this one first because it's probably the one that you're going to hit me with the most if you do any sort of research into reflections. Journaling is really helpful because it clears your mental clutter and it helps you to connect with your emotions.

You could try prompts like, how am I feeling right now? Or, what's one thing that I want to let go of today? And if these open ended questions make you want to hurl, it could be something as simple as just writing down five things that you want. And these could be literally anything. Like, you could say, I want a Porsche.

I want to sleep. I want a vacation. I want a yacht. I want five dollars. Whatever you want. Just write down five things that you want today. And it doesn't have to be realistic. Or it could be super realistic. Whatever you want, girl. The next one is is kind of a woo woo thing, but there is a lot of scientific research behind it.

And I have personally found it to be so helpful in reducing my own stress, especially in those moments of chaos. The second technique is EFT tapping. So emotional freedom technique tapping, it releases emotional blocks and it reduces stress and you do it. By tapping on different acupuncture points along your face, chest area, and your wrists while repeating affirmations.

And these affirmations should acknowledge how you're feeling now and what you want to feel instead. So for me, one of the places that I have found it to be very helpful Is when my baby is crying in the car, and I can't get to her at that exact moment. So I could be tapping and saying, I feel helpless when my baby is crying in the car, but talking to her will let us both know that we are safe and we will be there soon.

And so I'm acknowledging how I feel right now. and how we're going to feel after, right? We're gonna get through this. It's gonna be okay. The next one is face yoga. And I know this sounds a little funny, but it's actually pretty great. Another thing that I have been trying lately, it really releases tension and it can actually give you a quick little energy boost.

You're going to just massage your jawline and around your eyes. Like literally you're just like massaging your face and moving the muscles in your face. I don't always have time to do a full on yoga practice. As much as I love yoga and I love to be able to move my body, I just don't always have the time to make it work.

But I do have five minutes every day to do something. Five minutes of a full on yoga routine won't necessarily work, but five minutes of face yoga will. And I have found it so helpful in order to just kind of relax, not only my face and my shoulders, which are always too tight, but just relax my whole body.

It just lets me just take it that deep breath and just chill out and reset for the day. Next is breathwork and body scans and I've already kind of told you about this and had you practice this in previous episodes It's so helpful because it helps you reconnect with your body's needs. You're going to be either doing deep breaths and or you're doing a body scan.

You're going from your toes up to your head or from your head down to your toes and just feeling what does your body literally feel like right now. So like I was saying, my shoulders are often tense. I have been a lot better at having my jaw not be so tense and the area between my eyebrows have also not been so tense lately.

I wonder if that's also from the face yoga, but just doing these body scans has helped me to notice these areas where I am feeling more tension and I'm carrying that stress and I'm able to release it and let it go. The next one is a nature connection. Anytime that you are able to get out into nature.

It's going to help you to clear your mind and bring some perspective into your life. I have a tattoo on my left forearm of the constellation Orion. And I have this because it brings me perspective. Whenever I feel like I am deep in the trenches of my mind and all of these difficult things that are happening, my tattoo reminds me.

That I'm fine. I am just a blip in this existence and I know that that's not comforting to some people. I have one friend who has minor panic attacks when thinking about the stars, but for me, knowing that whatever feels really big, right now isn't really big in the grand scheme of things, helps me to really just take that deep breath and know that everything is going to be fine.

That is one way that I've brought nature inside with me. But anytime you go outside and you're just in nature and able to see the sun, go for that short walk around, look at a tree, look at a flower growing through the cracks of the cement. Look at how your dog Or your cat. Well, no, we're not going to go there.

Look at how your dog is walking down the road and enjoying their life, right? See if you could borrow a little bit of that energy and just let yourself reset. The next one is music, sound healing, or humming. And I kind of put all of these together because They're similar. So all of these are going to give you a shift in your mood.

Have you ever listened to a song and you're like you feel one way at the beginning of the song and at the end of the song you're like, yeah, I feel so much better or I feel so much angrier. I feel like you just have a totally different feeling at the end. Whenever we are listening to something auditory, It can shift your mood and bring you more focus.

So this could be listening to a calming playlist, or you could be humming along to a favorite song, or if you have access to it, or you know how to do it, sound healing is also incredible. For me, I have my dysfunctional playlist, and it's based off of Bobby Proud from The Proud Family. I don't know if you remember, but that's so Dysfunctional.

Can you feel it like I feel it? Anyways, that's what it's based off of, but it's a bunch of different songs kind of curated in order from songs that make me feel angry or feel like kind of more in that like ragey punky type mood and then they slowly shift. into kind of more upbeat songs, and then they shift again to ballads, those power songs that I can belt out.

And as I listen to this playlist, as I hum along, as I sing along, my mood changes with the different moods of the songs. And so if I'm really in a deep funk, this is my personal way of getting out of that funk as quickly as possible. The next strategy is ritualizing everyday moments, and this is so helpful because it makes self care seem so easy and consistent, honestly.

Again, you're using those transitionary times, you're using those little habits that you already have every day in order to cue yourself to check in. It could be lighting a candle, it could be turning on the stove, turning on the kettle in the morning for your tea, turning on the coffee machine, like whatever it is, you're using a cue to check in with yourself.

For me, I have a morning alarm that goes off on my Fitbit. It just vibrates, so it doesn't wake up anyone else, it just wakes up me. And it lets me just do that quick body scan. And then I personally don't like to journal first thing in the morning. I like to get everything out at night that's in my head.

But in the morning, I like to just escape my reality. I like to just do something that is totally for me. I don't have to think about anything that's coming up. My brain is distracted from what's coming up. And so I love to read for 15 to 30 minutes in the morning, at least. And if I wake up a little earlier than my alarm, I'm like, bonus, I get extra reading time.

Rather than waking up and being like, Oh, I don't get that extra 15 minutes of sleep or whatever it is. Right. That, for me, is a ritual that I have made work for me to check in with myself and be able to give myself that little bit of extra self care. Next one is creative outlets. This is anything creative.

It could be doodling, it could be baking, it could be knitting, it could be literally just coloring. Whatever it is that's creative for you. It will allow you to relax and to process your emotions. And not every creative activity is going to give you the same level of mental space. For example, I know someone who is an incredible knitter.

They are so good at knitting that they don't have to think about it anymore. And so knitting actually isn't that difficult. that calming for them anymore because their mind is still spinning as they're knitting. But when they then turn to sewing, they can sew and have to focus so hard on sewing. That, for them, is the way to have that relaxation and that time to process the emotions.

Unless you're someone who really hates putting pen to paper, any type of doodling or colouring I think is relaxing to everyone because it is kind of that mindless thing, but at the same time you're able to allow yourself to really like flow with the colours, flow with the movement of the pen, of the charcoal, of the pastel, whatever it is that you're using as your medium, it's allowing you to get that creativity and that flow and clarity in your day.

And then next, I could not give you anything to check in with yourself and not mention movement. Anytime that you're moving your body, you are connecting your body with your mind. You are dropping out of that mind that is spinning and into your body. which is clearing all of the mental blocks. This could be taking a short walk, could be stretching, could be doing yoga, could be doing like a full on HIIT workout, could be doing like spin on a peloton, whatever it is that you find helpful as movement, do it.

Try and do it as often as you can. And I know that it's not always going to be possible to do maybe your preferred type of movement, especially with kids around. But trying to have some form of movement every day will make a huge difference in your ability to pause and check in with yourself.

Especially when I am feeling extremely stressed out, being able to move my body will help me to not only relieve that tension and stress that's being held in my body, remember, tight shoulders. But it will also help me to take my mind off of all the stress and use my body to work through it. When I don't have a lot of time to do a full on workout, I like to do a quick mad dash dance routine with the kids, or I'll put on some silly YouTube video.

I'm sure you've seen them, the brain breaks for kids at school, where you're doing some sort of workout on one side or the other, you're choosing like, which would you rather, or you're jumping and ducking and going side to side, or you're dancing fast, slow, medium, all of the things, right? And this is a great way for me to not only move my body and connect with my mind, but it's helping me to connect with my kids too, in a really fun way.

And then number 10. Meditation or guided visualization. These both are so helpful because they help you to really clarify what your needs are and what your goals are because instead of a lot of these other ones that I've told you where you're trying to distract your mind from the stresses, the guided visualization will help you to see what your goals are and the meditation will help you to recognize.

the emotions and the blocks that you're feeling, acknowledge them and then let them go. I saved this one for last because I think that you need it. You need to be able to incorporate this sooner or later. If you are so deep in the trenches right now that you can't think of possibly dealing with this, dealing with these big feelings, dealing with these emotions, dealing with all of these stressors, you're just trying to survive, then you're not ready for the visualization and meditation yet.

But once you've tried some of these other strategies, And you're starting to kind of come down, but then you feel like you're at a plateau or you're feeling you need just like a little extra push to fully get over this hurdle. That's when the guided visualization and meditation can be really helpful.

So one way that you could use this just as a quick example is to close your eyes, Focus on your breathing, imagine your ideal day, like what if it was a dream world, what would your ideal day look like? And then ask yourself, what did I do to feel this way?

And if you've tried all of these strategies and you feel like you have done everything that you can possibly do, you've tried even more strategies than I've gone over, but you're still feeling like you're stuck in the trenches, you're still feeling like you're not getting out of that. Then you probably need some extra supports, and that could be through something like wellness coaching.

It could be through something like therapy. It could be through just having a quick chat with a friend. Really, you're going to have to make that decision to see what supports would best suit your needs, whether you are looking to move forward, whether you are trying to look back to see what's holding you back, or maybe you're just needing a little more connection time.

As we wrap up today, though, I want to remind you that self care doesn't have to be overwhelming. These small, consistent check ins will make a world of difference for you. And I want to give you three quick, actionable steps. That you can carry with you into the new year. So, I gave you 10 different habits that you could try.

I want you to just choose one to focus on in January. Set one realistic goal that aligns with your needs. And then, commit to checking in with yourself weekly. Remember, you don't need to do it all. Start with what feels good and build up from there. And I would love to hear what self care habit you're trying first.

Please share it with me on Instagram. If you're on my newsletter already, then you can email me there. Or, if you're not, please come on over and join the newsletter for more support and inspiration. Thanks for spending this time with me today, Mama. And here's to a year of more balance, joy, and connection.

You've got this girl. Thank you so much for tuning in today. You can find the transcript and all the resources mentioned in the show notes below. If this episode was helpful, I would really appreciate you leaving a five star rating and review so I can keep making it. Also, I want to make sure this podcast actually answers your wellness questions.

If you've got a specific question about how to implement more wellness into your already filled day. Send me a DM on Instagram at everwellcoaching so I can share resources or create a future episode just for you. Stay tuned for our next episode, and until then, remember to take a moment each day to do something that fills your cup, mama.