mothers and daughters

How Families Can Invest in Their Overall Self-Care

Published on July 24, 2025 by susanwbaileyLeave a comment

Guest post by Julie Morris

Families are at their strongest when everyone feels healthy, grounded, and cared for. Yet between school drop-offs, packed calendars, and the daily grind, self-care can slip quietly into the background. It doesn’t have to. When families treat self-care as a collective priority — not just a personal indulgence — it becomes a way to deepen connection, reduce stress, and model resilience for kids. Here’s how you can make that shift, with actionable ways to start today.

Strengthening Bonds Through Movement

Nothing clears a room of tension like shared motion. Family walks after dinner, a bike ride on a Sunday afternoon, even an impromptu dance party in the living room — it’s less about the calories and more about the emotional release. Studies show kids mirror their parents’ habits, and adults benefit emotionally when you work out together. The energy shifts. Laughter comes easier. Suddenly, the idea of self-care feels less like an errand and more like a ritual everyone looks forward to.

Choosing the Right Supplements

As families aim to fill nutritional gaps and feel more energized, supplements can be a smart part of the equation. But it’s important to pick products that align with your values — clean, easy to use, and kid-friendly where possible. If you’re looking for helpful solutions, this is a good one to keep on hand as part of a well-rounded self-care approach. Taken daily, it can become one more small but meaningful way to invest in your family’s collective well-being.

Taking a Break from Screens

When was the last time your family sat in silence without a device in sight? It feels almost radical now, but it’s worth it. Even a single evening unplugged can shift the mood and open space for real conversation. One family described the difference a weekend screen-free reset made in reconnecting with their teens — the awkward silence gave way to stories, games, and even spontaneous plans. That kind of reset costs nothing yet pays off in presence, attention, and trust.

Investing in Yourself Without Guilt

Too many parents frame spending on wellness as a luxury. It’s not. Setting aside dollars for yoga, therapy, healthy food, or creative hobbies sends kids a powerful message: your well-being deserves a line item in the budget. A smart way to start is by building a wellness budget that factors in both short-term needs and long-term habits. Even a modest allocation each month can reduce guilt, prevent burnout, and keep you from sacrificing your health to everyone else’s demands.

Eating Well Without Overcomplicating It

For all the talk about superfoods and meal plans, family nutrition comes down to rhythm and intent. Keep it simple, keep it consistent, and keep it joyful. Start small — one or two weeknight meals everyone can count on, where vegetables and conversation are equally important. Parents who prioritize daily family meal routines find that kids pick up healthy eating patterns faster and resist less because they see it modeled. A stocked fruit bowl and a plan for who sets the table can work wonders.

Adding Layers of Calm

Sometimes the best thing a family can do is… pause. You don’t need a meditation app or a retreat to find your breath. Even five minutes sitting together, eyes closed, focusing on nothing but inhale and exhale, can shift a hectic evening into something quieter. One hospital recommends five-minute shared breathing exercises to help families cope with anxiety, proving how little time it really takes to recalibrate. It’s grounding, it’s free, and it builds resilience you can feel.

Building a Wellness Budget That Sticks

It’s easy to lose track of spending when it comes to “self-care splurges,” but intentional budgeting can turn impulse into strategy. A family that sets clear priorities — and ties those to specific financial actions — feels less conflict and more clarity when the credit card comes out. One parent said that by prioritizing wellness spend they finally stopped second-guessing whether to book the dentist, the therapy session, or the weekend away. It became an investment, not an indulgence.

Self-care doesn’t happen in isolation. When families treat it as something shared, it becomes easier — and much more powerful. Every moment you carve out for yourselves strengthens the foundation you all stand on. You don’t have to get it perfect. Start with what feels manageable, celebrate small wins, and keep going. It’s not just about feeling better today; it’s about teaching the next generation that they deserve care, too. And that lesson? It sticks.

Discover a wealth of resources and inspiration for personal growth and well-being at Be as One, where faith and creativity unite to help you live the life you truly desire!

Be sure to visit Julie’s website at juliemorris.org.

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Owning our grief and why this is helpful to others–Virginia Woolf and Louisa May Alcott as guides

Published on January 25, 2016 by susanwbaileyLeave a comment

I wrote a book about loss and grief. In a second book, I included passages from an author who guided me through my loss and grief.

And yet, I am afraid to share that story with others.

Sounds absurd–after all, both books have been published and are available for the public to see. But I am glad I don’t have to be there when the book is read. Well aware that grief is uniquely tailored to the individual, I feel utterly unqualified to say anything about it, face to face.

Mysterious … unpredictable …

Grief is mysterious, unpredictable, you might even say, capricious. I can’t tell you how many times grief has decided to drop in when I am in front of other people. It has often visited in the form of tears and I have to hide away until it passes. It has also visited on too many occasions when I’ve sung in public, crippling my voice or simply rising up in the form of irrational fear.

Mike Schaffner Angel of Grief, Flickr Creative Commons

Important to share

When I read this story by Claire Fallon, Virginia Woolf’s Guide To Grieving, and how she connected her grieving over the loss of her mother to that of Woolf (both lost their mothers near puberty), I realized it is, in fact, important to share our grief stories.

Comfort through companionship

Fallon derived a lot of comfort from Woolf, not because Woolf offered consolation or answers, but because she was a companion on the journey. Fallon found a like mind in Woolf which helped her work through grief that had been bottled up inside for many years.

My companion

Reading Louisa May Alcott did that for me. Alcott offered no quick answers, no “5-step plan,” and certainly no skirting of the truth of suffering and death. Instead, Alcott shared her beliefs about death through her stories and they just happened to match mine. I was numb with grief at the time I took up reading and found that turning the pages of my mother’s antique volumes of Little Women, Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag and An Old-Fashioned Girl (all marked with her personal nameplate) and reading Alcott’s words helped me remember my mother when she was healthy and vital.

The best way to help

My process did not take as long as Fallon’s but it reminds me yet again that the best thing I can do to help someone who is grieving is to just be there to listen. And when it’s appropriate, share a few stories.

The value of writing

Alcott and Woolf had the courage to write it down and share it with the public. Writing has a way of uncovering what is really going on inside of you. Writing doesn’t have to be public to be helpful–keeping a a journal and writing letters to others (handwritten, as opposed to email) can help a great deal. But if you choose to share stories through the written word or through conversation, you have to own it.

That’s what I have to learn how to do.

Here is the link to Claire Fallon’s article. I think I will try a little Virginia Woolf; she is showing me the benefits of ownership.

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Creating room—the conundrum of the empty nest

Published on January 7, 2016 by susanwbaileyLeave a comment

The long Christmas break is over and the letdown is leaving me a bit melancholy. The stretching of the heart that comes with the empty nest made full, and then made empty again, hurts.

Both of our adult children were home for the holidays. Our daughter spent both Christmas Eve and morning with us despite the fact that she also needed to see her fiancé’s family (she got engaged in November). Our son spent the week with us, having come up from New York.

Each time they come it’s an adjustment, requiring me to make room, not just in my house, but in my heart. Of course I do it without hesitation, but it is still an adjustment. It took me ten years to get to where I enjoy the empty nest.

The room is made and is filled only to be emptied again; it continues to surprise me how much it still hurts when they go away. Eventually this room fades into the background, waiting for the next time it will be needed. Slowly the new life I began when they left the nest filters back in and it soothes my heart.

Robert S. Donovan empty nest,Flickr Creative Commons

This has been the conundrum for me with regards to the empty nest, this making room. I find it requires a heart that is vulnerable, supple and open. It requires a bit of courage, even for the creation of the smallest of rooms.

I distinctly remember the day I created that first room. All of a sudden the barriers came down and I announced to my husband that I was ready to have children. That moment came after several years of chasing a dream of being a professional musician, an all-consuming passion. I soon found out that motherhood is equally all-consuming; something had to give. I sold off my recording equipment, put the guitar away and immersed myself in my babies. It was not a hard choice. Love facilitates room-building

Gareth Saunders Bedroom in the sunshine, Flickr Creative Commons

After five years the desire to write and record songs returned and it became a painful tug of war. Creative work requires large blocks of quiet time and as any mother knows, that time is non-existent, especially if you also work outside of the home. There were plenty of moments of guilt and regret and before I knew it, my children were grown.

So many moments of great joy and pride. Moments of heartache and sorrow. My heart was exercised and stretched in ways I couldn’t have imagined.

Would I do it all again in the same way? Probably. Do I miss those childhood years? Very much so. Am I haunted by some leftover regrets? Sometimes. But it’s nice to have found a resting place in this empty nest.

In the meantime, I can enjoy the companionship of my grown children. Watching their burgeoning careers, enjoying pictures of the new apartment, marveling as they learn how to cook and make a home, meeting the significant others and reveling in the engagement and planning for the wedding all make for a rich post-childhood life. We share dreams and hopes for the future. The blossoming of my children into well-adjusted adults is an enormous blessing. As the song goes from The Sound of Music, somewhere along the way, “I must have done something good.”

Sara Björk The heart, Flickr Creative Commons

So, I will continue to make room. The stretching will continue to hurt but it makes for a strong muscle. And while waiting for the grandchildren, I will hug and kiss my cats in anticipation.