Mom Self Care Routine Vlog (+ how I use a dopamenu)

hey guys welcome back to my channel my toddlers just went down for their nap and I'm going to do a little nap time stay-at-home mom self-care routine and I thought it would be fun to Vlog and take you guys along with me as a work from home mom I often put a lot of pressure on nap time to be as productive as it can possibly be but if you watch my goal setting video for this year you will know that one of the big goals that I have is to get better at my work life balance and to prioritize my health and to have less stress so I have been trying it doesn't always happen I've been trying once a week one out of seven days to take the kids nap time to do a little bit of self-care now selfcare can look different for everybody for me it often looks like kind of boring things like cleaning an admin like things that make my brain feel better but today I'm really going to focus on just like pampering myself having fun and we're going to fit it all into about an hour and a half another problem that I have with sticking to my self-care routine is that I often don't have the motivation when the kids go down like I just don't have the energy to get up and do something for myself that takes effort even though I know it's going to make me feel better um so I have learned a trick for this um and it is basically um to have a dopa menu I've talked about this before on my Instagram and in my newsletter um but I have this thing called a dopa menu and it basically looks like a restaurant menu I made it in canva so this is what mine looks like and it has a few different sections I go into this in more detail in my newsletter um actually the one that's coming out tomorrow I think so if you're not signed up go down in the description and sign up so you don't miss it but basically there's like starters Mains sides desserts and specials so here it is closer up and I wanted to take a minute to talk about these different categories because I find that having a tool like this is really great for structuring my self-care and making it actually purposeful since I don't have a lot of time so the first section on my DOA menu here is starters and this is something that is going to take you probably less than 15 minutes you can do it in a lot of different places and it just helps to jump start your executive functioning get you moving it's that little extra boost when you need it and then we have this section which is like your main meal these are things that are going to take a little bit longer that are maybe going to be a little bit higher effort but are also going to have a bigger dopamine payoff then we have sides and sides are things that you can add to a more boring task so if something that you need to do for selfcare is cleaning maybe you could make it more fun with a podcast or talking to a friend while you're doing it or setting your diffuser these are like multitasking dopamine snacks then desserts are sweet sometimes according to my therapist so for me this is things like online shopping uh scrolling social media chocolate sometimes they can be really great and they definitely give me dopamine but if I overdo it then I end up feeling awful and then lastly we have specials and these are things that just kind of happen once in a blue moon for me that could be taking a vacation going to a crafting workshop and learning a new skill or going to get a beauty service done so this is what I'm going to be looking at today and how I'm going to be structuring my self-care time to make sure that I'm really getting the most out of it right now what I'm looking for is something quick so I want either a starter or a side so I'm that's just going to give me a little boost of dopamine and give me that energy and that motivation to get started because I know once I get rolling on this routine I'm going to feel great I just need to get started I'm thinking that making a special drink might be kind of a fun novel dopamine thing to do right now so I think we will start our little self-care routine off with that let's go to the kitchen this looks fun I found a boba matcha kit and it says it only takes 45 seconds to make which is great cuz I'm trying to erve time as much as I can right now hot water add Boba microwave the whole thing for 45 seconds and then put ice in okay I can do [Music] that [Music] that's very good okay so now that we have our fun Bevy I'm going to do a little bit of journaling cuz that always puts me in a good mood um the one that I started last night is called create your own cozy and it's like kind of a cross between a coffee table book and a journal like there's prompts to answer but it's also just like about your home and your life and how to make things cozy it's actually by an instagrammer that I follow uh Liz Marie Galvin and it looks like it's going to be really fun and just like it's short which I like there's like a hundred different numbered sections so I'm going to start with this and then I haven't done my everyday presents Journal yet I'm so excited today because I am starting the new edition which is the coet Edition it's got all kinds of like extra stuff in the beginning so I added like a bunch of journaling prompts and like Vision boarding exercises and I also added a weekly review at the end of every week so I'm really excited to start this new one Shameless self-plug but I literally just created this cuz I wanted it want to start be thinking about Cozy a little [Music] bit [Music] okay this matcha is very good but it's also very cold and I'm already a cold person so now I'm freezing and I'm thinking I might take a bath a bath is one of those activities for me that like feels really like a big self-care moment but it only takes like 15 minutes cuz I have ADHD and I get bored after 15 minutes um but my bathroom it's clearly still very much unfinished so I have to like clear away the construction stuff so that I can run it you know as you [Music] do [Music] I personally like to watch YouTube in the bath um and I also going to text one of my friends because I was writing down in my journal earlier that one of my goals was to be more intentional with my female friendships so that's what I'm going to do right now I'm going to watch a little YouTube I am going to text a friend I'm just going to relax cuz again I get bored in like 15 minutes so I won't even make it through a full YouTube video [Music] I can't say I've ever taken a bath in a swimsuit before but I also don't think I've ever taken a bath on the internet before so there you go internet's weird and so is my life okay I'm out of the bath that was so relaxing and now it's time to take care of my skin and I'm going to be using oia's andaria algae body oil and I have to say a huge thank you to them for sponsoring today's video oia is a brand that I've Loved for a really long time I've shared them before on my channel they are a motherdaughter founded brand in 1996 they're clean vegan crueltyfree this andaria algae body oil is my Holy Grail body product especially as I'm getting older my skin is starting to lose some of its elasticity show some signs of aging this really helps me take care of it and replenish its moisture barrier the andaria seaweed is like a super ingredient for your skin it contains a ton of really great nutrients for your skin including five B vitamins as well as sodium iron potassium it softens nourishes and firms visibly improves your skin elasticity and leaves you glowing which is one of my favorite things I'm not one to tan but this makes my skin look so summer ready in their andaria algae body line they also have this andaria algae body butter and the texture of this is so nice it is just like the most luxurious buttery but not greasy that is just beautiful of course I've got you guys covered with a coupon code so if you want to try oia's andaria LG body oil for yourself you can use Megan aunia 10 click the link in my description and you will get 10% off of your [Music] purchase now it's time for me to get dressed one of my biggest self-care things is getting myself dressed and this is honestly such a struggle for me um and until I got diagnosed with ADHD I didn't know why but now I know that it's like a sensory processing thing but thankfully I have now really cultivated a wardrobe that feels very comfortable to me and I just notice I always feel more productive and better when I get dressed so I am going to pick out an outfit this is also something that's on my dopa menu um is like styling a completely new outfit like going on Pinterest and just like picking something and trying to recreate it I think today I might just go basic with my favorite jeans and this top and accessories have really been where it's at for me recently so we'll spice it up with some of those I am like fully my coet girl era so I'm going to spice it up with some little coet accessories I made this cute little um charm necklace at a girls night that I hosted recently and I haven't actually gotten a chance to wear it yet so I think I'm going to wear this so fun I haven't worn like a piece of statement jewelry since I was like probably in high school should probably take off some of my other necklaces to simplify there we go and I'm also going to add this little hair bow I just wore it on an Instagram live the other day and a lot of you guys really liked it too I can link it for you below I'm feeling like that's going to be a cute Vibe last thing I'm going to add are these little glass strawberry earrings if you know about the strawberries then you know that's a lot of strawberry but I feel like this is my era to lean into being extra and just like not care what other people think and this makes me really happy so there you go as I'm in here I'm I'm realizing that I have this little basket that I thrifted a while ago and I've been meaning to hang it up right here and it might be a little ballsy because the kids are sleeping actually I think Ran's doing quiet time because I've heard him a little bit sometimes he just like reads and sings in his room it's very cute and I'm going to try to put this up because I always have a million books on my nightstand and I saw darling Desi recently do this thing where she hung a basket up by her bed and she put like flowers and books in it and that would get them off my nightstand so we're going to try it [Music] [Music] I probably only have like a half an hour left until the kiddos wake up if I'm lucky give or take um I think I'm going to spend that last half an hour working on a creative project because nothing feels more self-care to me than doing a creative project except maybe gardening but I don't have anything to do in the Garden today guys I'm getting close just to a first draft like it'll have to go through a lot of revisions and everything and even that I don't know if I'll try to do anything with it it really is just for me and I think that's the key to why this feels like selfcare because it's not performative it's not for anybody it's not supposed to make any money it's just like a thing that I am enjoying and loving for myself and I'm just so proud of it I've just been loving it so I'm going to work on this for a little while start my timer and see how far far I [Music] get my timer went off and miraculously the kids are still asleep so I'm going to go back to my boring self-care roots and do a little pickup it doesn't feel so much like a chore now that I've actually had some time to myself it feels more like a nice thing that I'm doing for me to like reduce the mental clutter and make me feel a little bit more calm um normally this is like the first thing I do in my self-care routine but today I really felt like I needed to indulge myself in some fun frivolous activi so that's what I did but it is probably time to get down to business [Music] now I got a lot done I have to say more than I thought that I would I still have like huge piles of laundry to full but I am starting to hear junifer stir so I know I'm going to have to go get her in a second I hope this naptime self-care routine encourages you to take just a couple minutes for yourself this week if you can I know as a stay-at home mom it can feel so impossible but even just doing this once a week has made a huge difference for me and honestly at the end of the day I know my kids are going to care more about having a happy fulfilled present mom than the sink being clear of dishes you know what I mean so I don't know it's a balancing act I can't do it every week but it is really nice when I can and I hope you get a chance to do it too I'm probably going to take the kids on a walk after this kind of sneaky extra self-care in there because they love it but also it kind of feels like parenting on easy mode so it's good for me too so I'm going to end the video here thank you guys so much for watching I can't wait to see you again in my next video bye golden golden things [Music] golden

Channel: Megan Acuna

Views: 4,937

Keywords: stay at home mom, MOM SELF CARE, mom self care routine, toddler mom self care routine, naptime self care routine, easy self care for moms, easy self care ideas at home, stay at home mom self care, stay at home mom routines, stay at home mom self care routine, sahm self care, sahm self care routine, easy self care, mom self care ideas, self care for moms, megan acuna, meg acuna, stay at home mom routines 2020, self care routines, self care habits, self care

Id: 8pTFmz63AN8

Length: 13min 59sec (839 seconds)

Published: Thu Mar 21 2024