A fabulous FYI: I cared for my skin from the inside out with Aveeno® Active Naturals as part of a sponsored post for Socialstars #Aveeno. All confessions are personally mine, all opinions are authentically my own.
Black & White. Loud & Soft. Yin & Yang. Chaos & Calm. Can’t have one without the other. I sometimes feel like us moms are walking contradictions. Or maybe it’s just me.
Please don’t say it’s just me. That would be unfabulous.
My life has had a common theme: When it rains, it POURS. (You too?) The past few weeks have been slammed, crazy, nutzo, forgetful and totally wild. And that’s excluding my young daughters. To think that I spent most of last year twiddling my thumbs and wishing and wishing for more projects. Wish granted. And I am thankful.
Except when I forget to be thankful and find myself feeling a little manic without a clear minute to think coherently. Preschool carnival setup and contribution of bake sale goods? Check. Compiling tax information that my husband has been bugging respectfully asking me about for the last 3 weeks? Check. Shoving all the pretend gowns back into the play drawer where they belong (for the fourth time in four hours)? Check. Making my deadlines for those new writing projects that I wished and wished would come my way for all of last year? Check. Playing referee for who gets to wear which princess costume and for how long? Check. Buy groceries? Whoops. Missed that one. Guess we’re ordering pizza tonight. Right after I clean up the costumes. Again.
Chaos. With costumes.
Constant chaos. Pouring. Buckets.
To combat the pouring buckets, I sometimes think about how much calm I had in my life prior to kids (we all do right?)… What did I spend my time on? Ah. Beauty Treatments. Brunches. The Gym. That’s right. I must’ve been rich back then. (Did that really happen or I just dreamt it? Hm.) All in the name of staying calm.
Lately I’ve been trying to force calmness into my life. (I realize that’s a contradiction in itself… but like I said, you can’t have one without the other…) How to calm down? Here’s what I’ve been trying:
1) TAKE DEEP BREATHS. Twice daily, I will remind myself to stop and take 3 deep breaths. I make myself close my eyes. This usually happens in my kitchen (because that’s where I spend most of my day).
Inhale. Exhale.
2) GO OUTSIDE. Nature is a calming force whether we admit to enjoying nature or not. Nature and beauty go hand in hand, whether we realize it or not. Watering the roses in my backyard brings me inexplicable peace. And my girls can play outside while I do it. I like to think my skin looks better after I do it (considering I usually got AVEENO® Ultra-Calming® Daily Moisturizer SPF 15 slathered on me these days… don’t be envious, it’s not my fault the sun is already shining bright here in Southern California…)
Yes. In my own backyard.
3) SLEEP IT OFF. The other day my friend teased me about how I consider 9:30pm a late bedtime lately. More and more, sleep is proving to do me good. A few nights a week, I challenge myself to hit the sack before 9pm. It’s not easy, but everything worth doing is not always easy. Sleep can do us all good. We just have to make an effort to actually do it. Even if it’s in our cars.
4) HIDE IN THE BATHROOM. Did I say hide in the bathroom? I meant utilize the bathroom. Most moms figure out that the bathroom is the closest go-to ally when we’re seeking a room with privacy… we can lock our bathroom doors without anyone getting suspicious about what we’re doing in there. I’ve started to use that to my advantage… in the name of holistic skin health. Light a candle and a bit of calm finds me.
I’m ignoring your pounding on my door, toddlers…
Bust out my AVEENO® Ultra-Calming® Foaming Cleanser and more calm finds me.
Yes, the foam tingles…
Ok maybe I goof off in here too.
Hey, laughter relieves stress, remember? It doesn’t take much time to find a laugh… even if finding a laugh comes from doing something so juvenile as dotting foam facial cleanser on your face, making goofy faces and taking selfies in the mirror. Happiness calms chaos, right? Happiness is also good skincare from the inside out…
These days, I’ve got to be quick and sleek and a bit lazy about skincare. Calm has got to be lean and mean or else it ain’t gonna happen. Some moms embrace constant chaos… I can’t. I need the balance. The counterpart. The calm. The calm can’t go away… it can’t. So I find it wherever I can force it. And it feels fabulous. For a moment.
Clean face. Chaos free.
HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR CALM?
