You really need to take care of yourself, too.

How many mothers have heard this and wanted to scream into a pillow because AHHHH?

I’d say every single one of us at one time or another.

And trust me, we don't want one hairy leg and one shaved leg. We know it’s not the best look we’ve ever had. But we’re in survival mode right now.

Because there’s only so much time in a day and so much money in the bank.

It'd take a long time for a mom to list every little thing she does on a typical day.

Between the dressing and feeding,

between the temper tantrums and disciplining,

between the loving and hugging,

between the cleaning bottles and never-ending piles of laundry,

our work as a mother will NEVER be done.

So most of the time,

our self-care consists of sipping enough coffee to keep our eyelids half-mast.

And when we get that spare moment, sometimes we just close our eyes completely instead of shaving the other leg or breaking a sweat.

Because right now, we’re deep in the hard of parenting little kids where self-care is easier said than done.

And the phrase “you really need to take care of yourself, too" puts more pressure on us and makes us, quite frankly, want to punch self-care in the face.

Because we are doing our very best.

And when it's between our kids or us, we are going to choose our kids every time.

And it's not noble or martyrdom. It's just reality, a fact of our lives.

And you know what? That’s more than okay.

This post originally appeared on the author's Facebook. Her book "Living FULL: Winning My Battle with Eating Disorder" is available on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2O4mJId