The following is an excerpt from ‘Moms Eat First: 5 Principles to Prioritize Yourself and Create the Change You Crave‘ by Kathy Sullivan.
About the Book: When was the last time you put yourself first – and not just for an hour or two, but truly prioritized yourself and what is important to you? I suspect your response to that question evoked a bit of discomfort; maybe even guilt. Moms often put the needs of others above their own, “serving” everyone else around them. Yet when done too often over time, constantly serving the needs of others can result in high levels of stress, burnout, and resentment.
Must moms choose between being a “good mom” and achieving the goals they want for themselves? How do you cut through all the chaos, identify what is important, and learn to let go of things that aren’t serving you well? In ‘Moms Eat First’, author Kathy Sullivan explores five key principles to create and sustain change and shares potential solutions to overcoming barriers.
What I have learned from close friends, business acquaintances, clients, research, chats with neighbors, and through my own experiences, is that moms take on too much. I hear it nearly every day, not always in the form of complaints, but simply in daily downloads of Mom’s Life.
The reasons vary: maybe there’s a personality style that accommodates the needs of others and wants to be liked by everyone. Maybe there’s a need to control everything, preferring to do it yourself, so it’s done “the right way”. Or maybe, just maybe, it is the acceptance of roles society has placed on moms of having to be everything to everyone and now it has become standard.
Possibly, it is all of those things for some of you. The result is that those around you are accustomed to the ways you strive; anytime you deviate outside the lines, people get upset, so you return to old habits.
The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the challenges so many women were already facing. Childcare responsibilities for many families, particularly moms, were a big part of that. Research showed that moms were more likely to carry the additional “load” of home-schooling children as well as other household responsibilities.
For many moms, this was all while maintaining a full-time job. And, for some, they simply couldn’t maintain it due to childcare issues further perpetuating the systems in place, and as a result, left the workplace.
Your role as a mom certainly requires you to take care of others and to make sacrifices. But when you pile that responsibility on top of the other jobs: paid work, partnering, caring for aging parents, and the load that more often falls on moms, it can begin to feel like there’s nothing left of yourself for you.
If this resonates with you, I encourage you to read on. You don’t have to stay stuck on the proverbial hamster wheel every day. There is a way through the chaos, and this book will provide you with a framework to begin the process. The rest, my dear friends, is up to you!
Are you ready to elevate yourself?
© 2024 Kathy Sullivan. All rights reserved. This excerpt is from Moms Eat First: 5 Principles to Prioritize Yourself and Create the Change You Crave, published by Performance Publishing.
Kathy Sullivan owns Talent Principles, an executive coaching and organizational development consultancy. She is a board-certified coach, change agent, author, and keynote speaker. Kathy helps clients facilitate the change they want to see in their lives. A single mom to two children and a Great Dane, Kathy resides outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Her purpose in life is supporting the development of others and helping advance women in the workplace – particularly working moms as they encounter unique challenges. ‘In Moms Eat First: 5 Principles to Prioritize Yourself and Create the Change You Crave’, Kathy shares success stories of how to gain clarity of what is important and provides tools to help you align your focus and achieve what you want.
