I am 5 months postpartum, still trying to figure out what my new normal looks like. Some days it feels like I’m nailing it, doing everything perfectly, and am on top of the world. Other days it’s like I have absolutely no idea what I’m doing and am starting over at square one. The truth exists somewhere in between those two feelings.

I don’t fully know what I’m doing (reminder to self: you’re still very new at this whole motherhood thing) but I have gained a bit of confidence in some of the day-to-day acts, enough to get by. 

Funny enough, that’s all very similar to how I felt when I started my yoga practice. 

But as I head into half a year of being a parent, I have given myself a challenge: I want to start prioritizing myself again. I want to look for ways to be a great mom, yes, but also a full human.

In these five short months, I’ve learned that in order to be a good mom, I have to be a whole person. I can’t just be a caregiver or a partner to my husband—I have to be me.

“Keep taking time for yourself until you’re you again.” 

So to do that, I’m working on creating a routine that gives balance to my day, where I can be all the things I want to be. Where I can prioritize doing things for me. And in the whirlwind that is summertime, it becomes really really hard to do that.

The thing about getting into a routine is that: 

• Routine makes us more efficient
• It reduces the need for in-depth planning
• Saves us time and efforts
• Instills good habits and breaks bad ones
• Ensures we get the most important tasks done

My routine is going to be focused on balancing work, teaching, caregiving and myself. I’m going to start small, working to add just one single yoga class into my week. Then, when that feels attainable, I’ll add two. And then maybe a massage (OK, I’m getting ahead of myself here). 

Without a routine, I feel like I never have time for anything. Right now, I’m lucky if I practice yoga once every two weeks. 

As a teacher, it feels like all my time is spent helping others advance their practice, but when it comes to my own practice, I put it on the back burner in favor of more pressing things (feeding my baby, taking a nap, vacuuming … quite literally everything feels more important right now).

But the truth is, yoga is important. 

And the longer I’m away from it, the more important I realize it is. 

If you’re like me and are struggling to prioritize yourself and your practice in a world full of other “very important things,” (whether or not those things are babies) consider sitting down and creating a schedule of the tasks you need to get done. 

You may be surprised that, when you actually take the time to look at what you have to do, taking an hour out of the day for yourself is very attainable. 

And once you actually start doing it, you’ll realize it’s not only attainable—it’s essential.

You’ve got this.