We all have different phases of our lives and we are different people sometimes in each one of them. I was a complete nerd in my teenage and college-age phases and I still identify with that a bit. As I got into my married life phase and especially the "Mommy" phase, I noticed a lot of friends started being very unhappy with where they were in life. I noticed they had a hard time with their weight, not having time to exercise, eat right, find clothes that fit their body type and forget about having time alone with their husband! This all seemed to make them act cranky, depressed and complain about their husbands and/or children a lot. Some were clinically depressed. Somehow I seemed to not be affected by these types of things. Yes, I had post-partum blues and the first year of the first child, and then in our case, after that twins things were tough, but overall, I still seemed happy. I wondered why and I've thought these things out of what has worked for my family and me. These things are just ideas and may not work for everyone, but I believe there is some grain of truth in all of these things and you should think about it and adapt them to yourself and your situation.
If you think you are depressed though, I will tell you - Take yourself to your doctor now! I love love love doctors and think everyone should have good doctor that will listen to you and work with you. I've never needed medications or therapy for depression, but a few of my friends have and they say it makes all the difference in the world. I also don't have a bias against moms that work outside of the home, inside the home or are stay at home moms. I personally do work outside the home in the corporate world, and I have friends that do all of the above and I think it's our responsibility as women to support each other in all our endeavors. I also don't think this should be exclusively to married women, although I do have some advice for those that are, as I am and I've been happily married for over 16 years and believe I will be for all my life with this one man.
But overall, I think all mothers need to try to take the best care of themselves that they can in order to take care of those they love. Which is where the title for this post comes from. I love the analogy to when you are on an airplane and they give you the safety instructions and part of it is when the oxygen masks come down in a time of emergency, you should always put your mask on first before you try to help others. You would be no good to anyone, if you didn't have your mask on already. Mothers give of themselves so much that they often forget to eat, drink plenty of water, exercise, go to bed on time, or go to the doctors. We can't do this. We need to ensure we are taking care of ourselves in order to be the best mommies and wives possible. I'm off now to go refill my water bottle and make a healthy dinner. Maybe I'll get to exercise tonight too!
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