I feel like single moms often dismiss or undervalue our “wins”. I am still in the habit of doing this, but I am more mindful of it now. Why is it important though? Because the name of the game is ‘consistency’ and the reward is our very important friend ‘dopamine’.
Celebrate!
No, really, you need to. Because if you don’t, your mind and body will throw temper tantrums (valid) and send you in the opposite direction (not okay!). Example; if you don’t reward yourself for achieving a fitness goal, your mind and body will react with “Well fine! Hope you enjoy how much more difficult the next goal will be to achieve!”.
Treat yourself in a healthy way. If you don’t have the money, sit down with yourself and compliment yourself to the moon and back! Because you did the thing! And because you celebrated, you will want to do the thing again!
Why Do Single Moms Struggle With This?
Being conditioned by society and toxic partners that mom things are expected and undeserving of accolades of any kind. Never having the time or means to prioritize ourselves before. “Mom Guilt“. Fear or conditioning that this is “selfish and wrong”. I would say these are the most common ones. But there are certainly others. No matter what, we aren’t letting those stand in our way anymore, right?…..RIGHT???????
Getting up, being present, getting the child(ren) to school on time, continuing to work on progressing to the job you need/want, all of these things are things to celebrate! But we struggle so much because of how we were brought up or abused with and that is just not right.
It is Important Because it is Your Health and Relationships
Your village wants to hear about your accomplishments. They want to send you all the good vibes. They want to cheer for you and with you. Your body and mind also want you to genuinely feel good. Feeling happy lowers cortisol, which lowers stress, which boosts our immunity and a whole truck load of other things. By celebrating all the wins, big and small, you are creating a better life for yourself and by extension your child(ren)’s.
So find a small goal, make it a win, collect that reward, and FEEL BETTER!
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