There’s nothing like becoming a mom to help you reassess your place in the world and your attitude towards life. It’s probably fair to say that many of us are pretty self-centered throughout our teens. Of course, we love and care for the people close to us, but if we’re being honest, many people put themselves first.

All that changes from the moment you become a mom and realize that this tiny person’s well-being is entirely dependent on you and your spouse as their parents. With that responsibility comes a dilution of our focus on ourselves as we all tend to put our children first. And so it should be – to a certain extent. The problem is that many of us moms take it too far and leave no time in our busy lives for us. We deny ourselves certain pleasures that we used to take for granted as our kids become all-consuming.

However admirable this may seem, there’s a danger in not giving yourself any time to relax and be a little self-indulgent. You risk burning out on energy to give to others and take care of everything and becoming irritable if you don’t get any downtime. That’s why it’s important to schedule in some ways for you to take five, no matter how busy your day is. Here are just a few ways you can do just that.

How to Squeeze in Me-Time for Moms

Organize Your Own Playdates

We moms are so busy sorting out our children’s social lives that we often let ours fade away. Next time you’re booking in a playdate for the kids, take the time to book in a get together with one of your own friends. Arrange it so that it can be just the two of you and you can leave your mom or wife hat at home for a few hours.

You’ll get to catch up on each other’s news without fear of interruption from the kids and to re-connect as individuals, rather than always being in your mom-role. An ideal activity would be a treatment at a spa or booking a lovely restaurant for a girls’ lunch.

Follow the Kids’ Example and Play

Thanks to the huge amount of different gaming options we have on our smartphones today, taking time out to play a game for ten minutes is no biggie. The hard part is deciding what we play – we almost have too many choices. If you like the idea of socializing while you play, then joining in some of the free bingo games at sites such as mFortune is hard to beat. Not only do you get to play rounds of quickfire bingo for free as you get a welcome bonus when you first sign up, but you can socialize with other players in the chat rooms while you play.

Thanks to the social nature of the game, bingo is great for those times when it can feel a little isolated being at home with the kids. You can have instant company by logging in and starting a conversation with whoever is in the chat room. As the games can be played on a phone, it also means you’re not tied to your desktop – you can be out and about or anywhere in the house when you take some me-time to play bingo.

Write Down Your Feelings

Lots of us would like to keep a journal but often find there’s not enough time in the day to do it. However, if you think about it, it would only take a few minutes each day – and who’s really that busy that they can’t afford to spare that amount of time? It’s just a question of scheduling the time in. Commit to the idea and write every day for a month. See what benefits it brings in terms of helping you see what excites you about life, what brings you down, and what brings you joy. It’s often hard to think clearly when you’re busy running a house and looking after the kids; writing things down will help bring this useful clarity. Once you’ve started it, reflection is a habit that you’re likely to want to keep up.

We all need a break from the daily routine every now and then – moms included. Me-time isn’t about being self-indulgent, it’s a key part of self-preservation. An added bonus is that it will actually help to make you a better mom – as you’ll have more energy and enthusiasm when you’ve taken a small amount of time for yourself.

How do you squeeze in a little me-time?