Gratitude

Motherhood is hard and journaling isn’t going to change that. But, it can help to shift your perspective. Leaning into how grateful you are for the role you’ve been given to be THEIR mom seems simple (and it is!) but it helps to keep this at the forefront of your mind every day, especially when times get hard. You can make it as specific or as general as you’d like. I love to get specific and also use the journal as a way to keep my memories close.

 

• I am grateful I was able to have kids
• I’m grateful to wake up to Thomas’ sweet smile every day (flipping the script- he’s my early riser!)
• I’m grateful to be my children’s safe space even if it means I feel like a punching bag
• I am grateful for 4 healthy children

 

A lot of times I’ll take what (or who!) I’m struggling with and reframe it to something positive.

Action

I take the “What would make today great” section and write something actionable that I can do today that would have an impact on me as a mom. Writing things out really and truly brings it to life. It’s a way of creating intention and implementation. A great way to build out this section of the journal is to refer to your highlights of your day and pull from those. For example, a few things I’m trying to be intentional about with the kids is outside time, spending one on one time with each kid, not being on my phone in front of them, and really focusing on their reading. What that might look like is:

 

• Getting outside for an afternoon walk with the kids
• Playing a board game together
• Spending from 4pm on off my phone
• Cooking dinner with the kids

 

Think of this section as little reminder of how you want to show up in motherhood!

Intention

This section has probably been the most influential for me in terms of how I use it to show up as best I can in motherhood. I really hone in on things I’m currently doing that I want to change and I continue to write that as one of my intentions until I master it.

 

• If I’m struggling with yelling at the kids, my intention might be “practice patience by removing yourself and taking a breath to help with emotional regulation as you see fit”
• If I’ve been annoyed with the kids, my intention might look like “limit multitasking, when the kids need you, stop what you are doing and give them your full attention”
• If I’m struggling with homeschool, my intention might look like, “make homeschool fun by being creative and not trying to rush onto the next thing.”
• If I’m struggling with my kids big emotions, my intention might be, “discipline means to teach, give the kids tools to help them learn to regulate their own emotions.”

 

All of these require a somewhat solid level of mastery of being able to regulate your own emotions, so I highly recommend adding in meditation to your day to help with that if you need!

The Run My Life journal is really what you make of it. You can be redundant and put the minimum effort in and it will yield minimum results. Or you can go ALL in, go deep about where you are, where you want to be and use it to truly help you close the gaps- between your mental and emotional capacity, down to your daily habits. Tailor it to whatever you need in the moment and let it help you. Get creative. Some habits and goals I track for my motherhood is: outside time, reading time, yelling (no yelling), special time with each kid, etc!