Joy in During
The Blog Formerly Known as Maintaining Mama
For my most recent writing, please visit my Substack, Best Mom Never!
4 Steps Out of a “Should” Spiral
How do you “should” yourself? Do you tell yourself you should be moving, eating, parenting, or adulting a certain way? How does it make you feel when you speak to yourself this way?
Pretty lousy, right?
4 Tips to Decrease Doomscrolling and Social Media Use
Did you know that your phone can act as a substitute for booze when you need a dopamine hit? EEK. Opening up a news or social media app lights up the reward center of the brain because our brains are information junkies. But just as with alcohol, excessive phone scrolling, and especially doomscrolling, can throw off the brain’s homeostasis and desensitize us so that we need to do more of it to get the desired “reward” effect.
Are You Suffering from Noverwhelm?
It has taken me a long time and a lot of coaching to figure out what response works best for me when a positive routine gets disrupted. I don’t always follow these steps - sometimes I just reach for the Nutella jar or my phone instead. But I always feel better moving through my angst instead of avoiding it with sugar or scrolling.
What Would You Say to a Younger You?
Taking time to ponder what you’d say to a younger you is an enlightening exercise that deepens self-compassion. There is great value in seeing how far you’ve come; reminding yourself that you have made it through all of your worst days; and gifting yourself a pep talk with the words that are most meaningful to you.