MamaBlogger365 - The Secret to Sustaining Change and Preventing Relapse by Julie Donley, RN

Lots of us seek to make changes in our lives so that we can be our best, both as women and mothers. It's hard to break old habits and change our lifestyle but MamaBlogger365 contributor Julie Donley, RN, success expert and author of Does Change have to be so H.A.R.D.?, offers her tips for sticking with changes we've made -- whether they're related to diet, exercise, family life, etc. -- with the goal of re-framing our lives.

“I don’t understand; I use [a diet system] to lose weight and am generally very successful, however, as soon as I come off the diet and starting eating regularly, I gain the weight right back. This has happened three times now. What am I doing wrong?”

This is the sad the story of relapse. You keep doing the same things over and over again expecting different results. Certain actions will bring about certain results and no matter how hard you ‘wish’ things would turn out different, you produce the same outcome yet again: you are back to your old habits -- smoking, eating, gambling, drinking, screaming... (Read more)

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MamaBlogger365 - Re-framing Motherhood by Ali Smith

Photo credit © Joshua Bright; All rights reserved.

Before I was a mom, I wanted to know that if I became a mom, I would still be able to have my life, my self, my dreams, my hopes, my aspirations; that motherhood would be a gain and not a loss.

When I met moms, I’d ask them endless questions about how they did it all, to make sure I could do it too and not become a shell of the person I knew and liked. When moms told me that motherhood was the hardest thing that they had ever done, but that it was worth it and the rewards outweighed the hardships, I probably thought they were lying. I probably suspected that they were miserable and trying to make it sound like they weren’t. I had no point of reference for something that would cause me extreme discomfort and potentially mess with my career and cost me money but that would all feel worthwhile in my bones, underneath it all, in my heart and in my soul. I don’t think there is another point of reference for a paradox like that. read more

Support MamaBlogger365 and help the Museum of Motherhood secure a permanent home in 2011!