3 Reasons You Need Kid-Free Hobbies

Hi friends, welcome to Motherhood, the best job in the world. I'm your host, Kelsey Redd, a therapist turned stay at home mom, empowering you with the skills and knowledge you need to be the best mom you can be and to actually enjoy motherhood. Don't forget to follow the show so you can get notifications of new episodes and follow me on Instagram motherhoodthebestjob. And if you're feeling stuck or feeling like you aren't enjoying this motherhood thing, shoot me a DM or email me motherhood. Thebestjobgmail dot com to set up a coaching call.

I would love to help you find your purpose, find yourself again, and equip you with tools so you can find ultimate joy in motherhood. You guys, I hear so many moms say that they don't do anything for themselves or they tell me they can't even remember what they used to enjoy doing. Does this sound like you? Do you have hobbies Or are you feeling like, I don't have time to do anything for myself?

This is a problem, ladies. If this is you, we need to talk. Let's get on a coaching call and find your identity again. We need to be enjoying hobbies for ourself. When you have things outside of motherhood, it allows you to be the mom you really want to be, and here is why. Reason number one that you should have kid free hobbies.

When you fill your own cup, you have more resources to pour into your family. You can't just keep giving and giving and giving to everyone else without ever replenishing your own mental and emotional energies. Some kid free time doing something that you love, that's just for fun, that brings you pleasure, will give you the mental and emotional and even physical energy to be a happy and present mom. Reason number two: Having your own hobbies actually models to your kids that it's okay to take breaks and give yourself what you need. How often do you tell your kid: you need a break.

Go have some quiet time. Go play by yourself. I say this to my kids all the time when they're getting overly aggressive, overstimulated, getting insanely disrespectful, I'm like, woah, okay, you need a little bit of you time. And yet, do we model this for them? Do we show them in day to day life that, Hey, I need some time to go do something for me.

I need a little break where I can just go have some fun, have some space, and I will come back re energized, more happy, ready to reengage with the family again. Another aspect of this modeling is that we are actually showing our kids, by our example, that we are willing to try new things. We're learning, we're failing, and we value play. Again, how often do we stick our kid into a sport or a new class and we're like you're gonna do great! But do they see us going out into something that maybe is a little scary or maybe is a new situation where we feel a little anxiety and say, I'm a little nervous to try this but I'm gonna go do it anyways or I'm a little worried that I don't know how to do this new thing but I'm gonna go do it anyways.

Why don't we show them by our example that we are willing to do the same things we expect them to do? Alright, reason number three that you should have some kid free hobbies is that when you're spending time doing things for you, things that bring you pleasure, you are able to reconnect with who you are outside of being a mom. That self identity piece. This gives you your own individual identity and actually strengthens that sense of identity because otherwise we can get lost. It's so easy to get lost in motherhood.

It's so easy to spend all of our waking moments focused on other people, taking care of other people's needs, even at the neglect of our self care, our self hygiene, our interests and our pleasures. And if we do this, it ultimately leads to burnout and unfortunately resentment. We have to be preserving and strengthening our own self identity so that we don't get burned out or start resenting our family for needing so much from us. So I challenge you today to do something for yourself, do something for fun, do something that brings you pleasure for no other reason than to just enjoy it. If you can do it kid free, all the better.

If not, that's okay. It's a goal. It's a work in progress. Eventually we'll get you there. I want to help you find yourself again.

I want to help you feel joy in mothering. So if you can relate to feeling lost in motherhood, if you can relate to feeling like I don't even know what I would do with an hour of free time, let's talk. We need to map out your self identity and I have a whole worksheet to guide you through it. Send me a DM on Instagram motherhoodthebestjob or shoot me an email motherhood. Thebestjobgmail dot com so we can create a plan to get you back to yourself and to ultimately find joy in motherhood.

I'll see you next time.