A Blog For Mums
I used to think affirmations were something other people did. People with tidy kitchen counters, organised sock drawers, and the sort of calm morning routines you only see on Instagram. Definitely not me, whispering “please just eat the yoghurt” at 7am while trying to locate the one water bottle that doesn’t leak.
But somewhere between the sleepless nights and the endless to-do lists, I realised I needed something small and steady to hold on to. Not a full self-help overhaul. Not a five-step mindset plan. Just a few simple sentences I could slip into my day without anyone noticing. That’s really all an affirmation is: a sentence that helps you steady yourself when you need a moment of perspective. They don’t magically fix your life, but they do help you navigate the tricky bits with a little more kindness towards yourself.
There’s a reason so many mums quietly turn to affirmations, even if we don’t talk about it much. Motherhood has a way of amplifying your inner critic. One wrong turn, one overcooked dinner, one forgotten school form, and suddenly you’re convinced you’re falling short everywhere. Affirmations interrupt that spiral. They give your brain something gentler to hold onto before it runs away with the narrative that you’re failing.
And here’s the bit I had to learn the hard way: an affirmation only works if it feels like it belongs to you. If it sounds like something a guru in a floaty white kaftan would say, it won’t land. But if it sounds like something you’d genuinely tell a friend, then it has half a chance of sticking.
Some days my affirmations are basically pep talks. Other days they’re more like deep sighs turned into sentences. They don’t have to be inspiring in a grand way. They just have to be kind.
The trick to finding the right affirmation is honesty. Not the glossy version, but the tired, overstretched, slightly-frazzled truth of your actual life. For me, that meant letting go of the perfect-world lines like “I am calm and centred” because, frankly, I rarely am. Instead, I landed on things that felt rooted in real experience.
Here are a few examples of the kinds of affirmations I reach for on an ordinary mum day:
The magic is in choosing words that soften something inside you. If a line makes you unclench your jaw even slightly, it’s a keeper.
Now, if I had to sit down cross-legged with a journal every morning to say my affirmations, they wouldn’t exist. I don’t have the kind of life where mornings unfold peacefully. There’s cereal on the floor and at least one child negotiating like they’re at a United Nations summit.
So instead, I use affirmations in the smallest, most ordinary moments. The ones no one notices except me.
These tiny pauses add up. They don’t fix everything, but they soften the edges of the day. They remind me that I am human too, not a machine that exists solely to keep everyone else going.
I’m not going to pretend affirmations turned me into a serene, glowing mother who wafts through the house dispensing wisdom and organic snacks. But they have changed something important.
I recover faster from stressful moments. I talk to myself more kindly. I expect less perfection and give myself more grace. And on the days when everything wobbles — the tantrums, the mess, the overwhelm — I have a few grounding sentences ready to catch me before I spiral.
Affirmations haven’t made motherhood easier, but they’ve made it feel less lonely. They remind me that I don’t need to be extraordinary. I just need to be here, doing my best with whatever the day throws at me.
If you try affirmations, keep them short. Keep them honest. Keep them yours. Say them quietly, say them half-heartedly, say them while stirring pasta — it all counts. The point isn’t to create a perfect mindset. It’s to create tiny anchor points in the middle of your real life.
And if all you manage today is one sentence whispered between tasks, let it be this one:
“I’m doing the best I can with the day I’ve been given.”
That alone is enough.
Self Care and Health
