How do you take care of yourself when you’ve had a terrible night sleep? When life throws you an unexpected curveball?

Life with young children is always unpredictable and sickness is an inevitable part of it. Children becoming poorly often puts a swift end to your well laid plans and routines.

I find that when your little ones become ill, it puts the less important stuff into perspective. You realise what is really important; taking care of your babies and making sure that they are back to health as soon as possible.

Just last night, our 18 month old daughter started being sick in her cot at around 10.30pm. A night of violent vomiting ensued. Once her little stomach was empty, she woke every half an hour wretching and crying; it was heart-breaking.

We’d had a fun-filled day planned the next day with family and of course we had to cancel our plans; Ava’s health came first. We also had to think of ourselves and how tired we felt, we needed enough energy to take care of our five year old son as well.

I am still working on overcoming the guilt of ‘lazy’ days. I don’t fit much structured exercise into my life so I try and be as active/ walk as much as possible but there are certain days, like this instance where you have to admit defeat. The day has been spent washing sick off bed-sheets and trying to get by on very little sleep!

On days like this it’s pretty normal to crave a little comfort food. Put into perspective that it’s only one day and sometimes being kind to ourselves is exactly what we need; whatever form that takes.

Consistently practising meditation and self-care helps to build our emotional, physical and energetic reserves, so that during those difficult days (and nights) we have enough resources in the bank to cope.

When we live our lives in the fast lane and in a constantly depleted state; we crumble when we are thrown into a difficult situation. Another reason self care, relaxation and filling your own cup are vitally important, especially when you have young children.