By Renee Martinez
I’m at the airport waiting for a flight. I realize it’s early (6:30am) and that not everyone likes morning (myself included!), but the people watching at the airport is eye-opening.
It’s easy to let being a mom control your life and make you feel like you don’t matter anymore. Once you have kids, it can feel like your life is no longer your own. Plus, being busier, it’s easy to let yourself slide. I speak from experience.
Looking around, I see so many women who clearly don’t care. I’m all for easy. I don’t prim or fuss much myself, but you have to care. I’m not suggesting you need to dress like your going out to dinner just to take the garbage out.
It’s a like a rat on a wheel. You gain a few pounds after you have a baby and since the focus is on the baby, you forget about you. Now, I should mention that if you’re one of those lucky women who bounces back to a size 2 after pregnancy, you probably can stop reading this post. Oh and by the way, I admit that I’m jealous and you make me mad. For those of you less fortunate, like me, I’ll get back to my rat theory. So you gain a few pounds, you feel crabby and depressed, so you allow yourself to eat more than you should. Since you’re busy with a child, you have less time so you don’t exercise as much, then you gain more weight. Since you’re a little chubbier you wear ill-fitting clothes (maybe too big to hid or to tight because you don’t want to admit you’re a little chunky or buy new clothes) so you start to feel yucky and depressed, then you allow yourself that extra cookie… You get the idea.
Looking around, I see so many people who just look bad. Frumpy. Unhappy. This is a challenging time, the mommy years, but it’s also an amazing time. Our kids will grow up and we will have more time than things to do. Yet, we need to have balance. Our children need us to be balanced, to be happy with who we are and to respect ourselves. We are their example.
I’m not suggesting to get dressed up just to impress the world as you stroll through the airport, take care of yourself for you. On either extreme, putting kids in constant childcare so you can hit the gym is just as damaging as neglect. Balance is the key to finding contentment with who you are and only then will you enjoy life.
Do something for you. A happy mom = a happy son. Our sons should see a female role who is happy with herself.
About the Author: Renee Martinez consults and speaks professionally on social media marketing, integrated marketing communications, public relations and branding. She is the president of Ruby Marketing Communications (www.rubymarcom.com), a boutique marketing communications company that specializes in providing branding, social media strategy and integration, and creative services. Her blog (www.lisac95.sg-host.com), provides resources on everything marketing and social media for her active audience.
Renee has contributed as a featured monthly columnist in the monthly jewelry industry publication, JCK on matters related to internet marketing as well as in InStore Magazine as a featured blogger where she writes about developing effective marketing strategies for the jewelry industry using social media. She is the founder of: Social Media Biz Summit (www.socialmediabizsummit.com), the first large-scale SM conference to come to Buffalo, NY; #jewelrychat, a weekly twitter chat for the jewelry industry and www.RaisingBoysWorld.com. Renee teaches social marketing courses at Canisius College in Buffalo, NY for the business school as well as offers small group social media marketing training and educational seminars for businesses in Western New York and beyond.
Renee has dabbled in internet marketing arena since the early 90′s and is not ashamed to call herself a “marketing geek”. From chatting in AOL, “sharing” music on Napster, and teaching HTML classes before it was considered “cool” to developing comprehensive social media strategies, effective public relations campaigns and managing online communities (most recently Chevy Girls Buffalo).
She enjoys being able to help people find their voice online and to create buzz about their product or service that will give them the results they desire.
Renee can be found on Twitter (@reneemmartinez) and Facebook (http:/www.facebook.com/RubyMarCom).
