Mental Self-Care For Moms With ADHD

We all know what physical hygiene is.  I can list off at least 5 things off the top of my head. 

But, when I ask moms about their mental hygiene I get blank stares…crickets

The thing is, mental hygiene is as important if not more important than physical hygiene.  It’s all about taking good care of your mind.  For our purposes here, mental hygiene is a part of your mental self-care.  Research shows the intricate connection between the mind and body so, when you’re taking care of your mind you’re also taking care of your body.  A double hit of self-care.

The mom mind, especially the mom mind with ADHD is unique and beautiful and requires a bit more intentional care. 

I mean, The mind is a powerful tool .

It keeps your family alive.  It keeps your household running.   And, it can be used to create incredible things.  

5 Mental Self-Care Tips For Moms With ADHD

There are several things we can do to care for our minds.  For our mental hygiene.  I’m going to share 5 of them here.

• Nourish the mind

First of all, Just like the body, good nutrition, hydration, rest and exercise are crucial for the health of the mind.  I’m not going to get into it here but there are even certain foods, like oily fish, that are ideal for brain health

• Reduce mental clutter

Secondly, The mind is a powerful tool but it is not a container.

Holding things like dates, information, numbers and decisions takes up a lot of mental energy.

When the mind is containing, it doesn’t have room for much else.

And, when you have an ADHD mind like mine, your mind over floweth.

In order to be present and available for our children and our visions we need to create simple systems for extracting the information from our minds so we can use them for what they are intended.

I personally use a planner for keeping track of my schedule and a Trello board which is an amazing digital project management tool to house my entire life.  I’ll put a link to the Trello board I use in the show notes.  I also schedule decision making time because making decisions can be a huge mind suck, especially for the ADHD mind. 

• Choose healthy mental “supplements”

Thirdly, we can choose what we allow to enter the mind, what to feed it.  We can choose what media we listen to, we can choose who we converse with and we can choose what thoughts to think.  In fact, choosing our thoughts is the ONLY thing we have 100% control of.  

So, we can choose to feed the mind loving messages. Joy, empowerment and compassion are mental supplements for the mind.  

• Give it a rest

Fourth is to give your mind a rest.  Create the space for meditation and mindfulness. 

I know.  I know.  The M word.  But, hear me out.

There are soooo many benefits to meditation. 

You can use meditation to clear the mental clutter.  Think about it this way.  If you are too busy rushing from thing a to thing b and don’t take time for mental hygiene, you will eventually have a mess to clean up in your own head.

And, the ADHD mind truly does not need any more mental clutter.

You can use meditation to reduce stress.  I mean, we live in a noisy world.  We are bombarded daily with messages, opinions, marketing and the demands of others in the cacophony of life.

Even in the chaos of life it’s possible to find a quiet place inside of yourself.  A sanctuary. 

• Give the mind something interesting and important to focus on

And, the fifth and, in my opinion, THE most important way to care for your mind is to give it something to focus on because man oh man this ADHD mind runs amuck if it doesn’t have something to focus on.

I truly believe that living a vision driven life is the cure for overwhelm and a crucial part of your mental hygiene.  And, it all starts with a crystal clear life vision.  A vision that encompasses all areas of life – health and well-being, relationships, vocation, experiences and daily life with time and money freedom running freely throughout.

A life vision gives our ADHD minds something interesting and important to focus on.

At the beginning of the pandemic after the world had been sent home I was checking in with my clients during a group coaching call to see how everyone was doing.  One of them said that she felt kind of guilty because while everyone around her was freaking out, she was calm and confident in where she was going.  She said it felt like we had been in training for this.

Living a vision driven life is truly the cure for overwhelm, it makes decision making a breeze and when you’re using the FAB Framework of Focus. Align. BEcome. You can actually experience yourself becoming the best version of yourself every day, even if you’re not quite there yet.

When you have a crystal clear vision that you’re super excited about it’s almost as if the vision pulls you toward it.  A Vision Walk is a great way to begin your journey.  Go here to access the FREE audio guide:  www.visiondrivenmomwalk.com

What is one way you can start taking care of your mind today?  

Shine Brightly,

Tracy

P.S. Have you taken a vision walk yet?  It's FREE, easy and will get your body and your life moving toward what you want for yourself, your family and the world.  Click the green I'M IN! button below for all the deets.