Avoid the Postpartum Comparison Trap!
The last few weeks, I’ve been talking about how we set ourselves up postpartum to fail and how we can identify these traps.
The comparison trap is one of the most insidious of all. And I’m not just talking about comparing birth stories, or postpartum progress, but how we compare ourselves to, well, ourselves.
This is especially relevant to moms who have more than one kid.
Because the second, third, fourth time around is just DIFFERENT than the first time!
It just is!
Learning how to be a parent and taking care of a small human is a big thing, but unless you had twins, you’re still only taking care of one other human. Getting out of the house for a walk is a challenge, but it’s still the easiest it will ever be from here on out if you plan on having more kids.
I hear this a lot: The weight just isn’t coming off this time around. I thought I was going to get back to workouts a lot sooner.
We need to recognize that things are different than the first time! We can’t compare our “now selves” to our previous selves from a few years ago. They are fundamentally different people!
Catch yourself when you’re doing it. Be intentional and ask WHY you’re comparing.
Identify the barriers and make a plan to overcome them. If we make too many sudden changes, we can set ourselves back.
If you want an actionable thing to do right now, start small! Start simple!
Just show up in an intentional way and you can build off of that. Set yourself up for success instead of failure.