So awhile back this mental strength challenge went viral on social media called 75-hard. As soon as I heard about it I wanted to try it. Problem is, I was 8-months pregnant and still working full time. Basically, I was exhausted ALL the time. How was I supposed to do TWO work outs every day for 75-Days? And drinking a gallon of water a day when I already needed to pee every five minutes? Not gonna happen. So I told myself I’d do it in a few months when I recovered from postpartum. Problem with that is I had no idea what postpartum actually looked like. You don’t just “recover” from postpartum because having a baby changes everything in your life (in the best way possible). So, now I’m 14 months postpartum and realizing I don’t think I’ll ever be attempting the 75-Day Hard challenge.
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This bothers me though! Not because I really, really wanted to do it, but because all these viral trends seem incredibly difficult for moms to participate in. Even more than that, I’ve seen so many trends, challenges, life advice blogs, and activities that just don’t fit in with mom life. I get that it’s hard to understand being a mom if you’re not one, but I really don’t think telling a mom of a new baby that they should try getting 8 hours of sleep a night is the best course of action. But just because our lives center around our kids doesn’t mean we should be left out of these fun challenges. So, I analyzed what things in my life I wanted to improve, and how I could challenge myself to change them. Once I came up with my goals, I thought about how to make them realistic for moms. The end result is this: 75-Day Mom Challenge.
There are 6 tasks that I am going to challenge myself to every day for the next 75 days, starting today. Any moms out there that want to join in on a mom-doable mental strength challenge for the next 75 days should join in! I plan on updating you guys occasionally throughout the 75 days on what struggles I’ve faced and how I’m working on overcoming them. Feel free to leave comments on this post (or any other related one) about your own progress! I’d love to hear about your progress and experience with this challenge throughout the process. If you need community, support, or advice while challenging yourself feel free to reach out to me personally as well! Good luck!
The tasks:
1) Drink the right amount of water every day (and make your kids drink water too)
Let’s be real: a gallon of water is simply too much for some people. We all have different needs depending on weight, activity level, and what else we’re consuming throughout the day. So this part of the challenge just requires you to figure out what the right amount of water for you is. (You can figure out how much water you’re supposed to be consuming every day here). Make sure that you and your kids are drinking the appropriate amount for each of you every day. That’s it! 75 days of hydration.
2) Eat 3 meals a day with the goal of being as healthy as possible
Similar to the first task, this one just includes what’s supposed to be the daily necessities. Eat 3 meals every day. Following a diet for 75 days seems a little far fetched when there are days where you put so much energy into feeding your kids you forget to feed yourself. So for this part, 3 meals a day and you pass. Now it’s good to set your own goals for this, especially if you already have eating 3 meals a day down. I personally am challenging myself to increase the amount of veggies we eat in my very fruit dominant household. The goal should be to eat as healthy as possible, but if there are rough days, as long as breakfast, lunch, and dinner are all accounted for, it counts.
3) Get exercise of any kind:
No need to work out for 2 hours a day with the mom challenge! Just get any sort of exercise within a day and you’re set. Even if you can only fit in a 10 minute HIIT video, as long as you’re moving, I’m proud of you. Sometimes as moms it’s super difficult to find time to fit in a work out. Even if you do find the time, the motivation is equally as hard to produce after being so busy all day. So for this part of the challenge, we’re going to push ourselves to find some sort of activity time every single day for 75 days. If you’re struggling with knowing how to work out with kids in tow, check out my blog post on working out while being a full time parent.
4) Do a mental health task every day
Instead of reading 10 pages of an educational book every day I chose to do a mental health task. The reason for this choice is quite honestly, a lot of us don’t have time for both. In addition, we already put aside our mental health so often in order to put our families first. I think it’s important for us to focus on ourselves a little! Now this doesn’t have to be a huge, time consuming thing. It just means do one thing every day that’s good for you. It could going for a walk alone, listening to your music (instead of Five Little Ducks constantly being played), reading a book, or even taking two minutes to lock yourself in the bathroom to do a quick meditation without interruption. Here’s a list of things I’m going to try: journaling while my sons asleep, reading for fun, meditating, spending time with friends, going on dates with my husband if we can find a trusted babysitter, baking without a baby in tow, and walking our dog by myself while listening to music.
5) Spend at least 30 minutes of quality time with your kids every day:
This means uninterrupted, screen free, intentional time with your kids. Now, I’m not saying that I spend less than 30 minutes with my kid a day. I spend hours with him, and many days we do have 30+ minutes of intentional bonding time. That being said, there are also days where I’m so busy or burnt out our play time looks a little different. We’ll play while I fold laundry, or while I’m on the phone with my mom. Or we’ll play for 20 minutes, then do something else, then play for 15, then do something else. On and on and on.
I want to challenge myself to ensure my kid gets valuable time with his mom without distractions, every single day. Especially as we consider baby number 2, I also want to soak up as much one on one time we have together. So this part of the challenge really focuses on the mom part. Make sure your kids know that they deserve, and get, a piece of your undivided attention every day, even when you’re busy or overwhelmed. I know it will be challenging on some days, but by the end of the 75 days I’m hoping it’s just second nature for everyone to put away all their stress and to-do lists for their kids a little each day. Since it’s summer when I’m starting this challenge, check out my list of activities to do with toddlers in the summer if you need ideas to keep you guys busy.
6) Get outside every day:
In my opinion, this is one of the easiest ones because there are no specifics to it. Even if it’s only for a few minutes, as long as you get outside it counts. It also doesn’t matter what you do outside. Go for a walk, play a game, sun tan. Whatever it is, go for it! I just don’t want you (or your kids) stuck inside the house for a whole day. Sunshine is so healthy for everyone for so many reasons. It helps boost the immune system, it helps prevent depression, and it opens up a whole new area of things to do. I personally am challenging myself to complete 1000 hours outside this year, so we’ll be taking this one very seriously.
How this challenge works:
As I explained before, all that you have to do is check off each of these 6 tasks, every day, for 75 days. I think it could be very beneficial for you to keep track of how you’ve been doing on a weekly basis. This will help you see where you’ve struggled, and brainstorm ways to improve. Using a tracker is a great way to make sure you’re keeping up. You’ll hear from me about my journey throughout the 75 days, and at the end. So let’s do this!
What you’ll need:
The list of things you’ll need is pretty short. Honestly, just a strong mindset! But if you want some things to help you get through this challenge, here’s a few ideas.
- A Tracker to keep track (subscribe to my email list to get one for free!)
- A buddy for accountability (contact me here!)
- A water bottle to help you keep track of how much you’re drinking
- Sunscreen for your outside time
- A plan for how you’re going to complete each one of these tasks.
I know it seems daunting, but once you get going it won’t be as hard as you think. You got this mamas!