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Mother’s Day is just around the corner, but with self-isolation and social distancing, many parents will be searching for a whole new way of celebrating this annual ritual with their families.
On top of the celebrations themselves, many of us are struggling with the added pressures and stress that have come from the coronavirus pandemic, and ‘celebrating’ might be the last thing on your mind right now.
We spoke to Sonia Motum, Mindset Expert and Coach at Energy Coaching, for her advice on how to make the most of Mother’s Day this year, how to encourage your family’s joy even if you’re in a negative frame of mind, and how to maintain a positive mindset through these tough times.
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Among all the change and uncertainty, how can mothers maintain a clear mind and still celebrate ‘normal’ occasions like Mother’s Day with their families?
It is important to keep life functioning as ‘normal’ as possible during times of uncertainty and great change, such as this pandemic, particularly when having children at home. We need things to look forward to and to celebrate and Mums certainly deserve to be celebrated.
Try to remember that you are not alone and that we are all in this together. Whilst there is a lot of grief and anxiety being experienced, there is also a great deal of kindness, collaboration and connection happening.
Focus on gratitude
Regardless of how hard things are or what challenges you face, there are always seeds of good in your life. A great way to increase positive thoughts is by expressing gratitude and taking notice of when good things happen and being thankful for them. Being grateful for the small things in life, such as enjoying your morning coffee, cuddling your child or speaking to a friend, not only helps us to feel good but also brings us more good things as a result.
Be a role model
Children look to their parents to gauge what is acceptable and unacceptable behaviour and they generally mirror what they see. Even if you are feeling stressed, overwhelmed and anxious, choose to put on a happy face and show up as the best version of yourself for your children.
Reframe Your Thinking
When we focus on how bad things are or what is not working for us, we literally attract more of what we don’t want into our lives. The more we focus on the negative, the worse we feel and the harder it is to get ourselves out of the negative spiral. The opportunity is to make a conscious choice to focus our attention on the positive and our desired outcomes.
Focus on What You Can Control
It is easy to get caught up in the fear and the incredible suffering that is occurring worldwide at present. Whist we should never turn a blind eye to it, we also don’t need to focus all our attention on it. Instead focus your attention on what is in your realm of control.
2. When your children are looking forward to Mother’s Day, how can you encourage their joy and positivity if you personally are in a negative mindset?
Remember that the current situation won’t last forever. This time will pass and things will eventually get better. Create happy memories of this time together in isolation.
Lockdown gives us an opportunity to be creative and to do things differently this Mother’s Day. The one thing we do have in lockdown is time. Find activities that you can do altogether.
Instead of having your family buy a Mother’s Day card this year, get them to make one. Find as many crafty pieces of fabric, ribbons and trinkets and have fun together making tactile cards.
Why not bake a cake together or share in the responsibilities for making the Mother’s Day meal?
Another thing you can do to breed positivity is to share with each other three things you are grateful for on Mother’s Day. It takes three positive things to counterbalance one negative. Get the children to decorate a gratefulness jar and create a daily or weekly ritual where you put in the jar three things you are grateful for. If anyone is ever having a challenging time, you can empty the jar out and look through all the good things that have happened. This will help in resetting your mindset to the positive.
3. Tips and advice for mothers feeling like they’re ‘missing out’ this Mother’s Day and how to maintain a positive mindset through difficult times.
Just because we are experiencing COVID-19, doesn’t mean you can’t receive breakfast in bed or have dinner cooked for you. If you normally have a big family gathering to celebrate Mother’s Day, share your festivities together over Zoom.
Remember that you can still post your Mum a letter or card or even make them a gift this year rather than buy one.
Even though you might be spending the day at home this year and perhaps many won’t have the financial resources to shop online for a gift, most importantly remember that love, connection and kindness is all we really need to feel happy.
Sonia Motum – Mindset Coach & Mentor
With a corporate career in HR spanning more than 20 years across multiple industries, all levels of an Organisation including HR Director level and leading teams of up to 60 people, Sonia has first-hand experience in developing others to be the best they can be and providing them with the tools, exercises and support to help them succeed and thrive in all areas of their life.
Sonia has a passion for behavioral coaching and helping others to transform their lives into an optimum state of being through visioning, action planning and the achievement of goals. Sonia supports clients to truly uncover what is driving their thoughts, beliefs and resulting behaviour using evidenced based coaching techniques, tools and resources and positive psychology interventions.
Sonia successfully works across all industries and levels of an Organization from C Suite Executives to new and emerging Leaders, as well as supporting non corporates to step into and realise their full potential.
As well as having a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in Industrial Relations and Sociology from the University of New South Wales, a post graduate degree in Employee Relations from the University of Technology, Sonia has an organizational Coaching accreditation through the International Executive Coaching Leadership, is a trained Meditation Teacher and an Intuitive Healer.
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