I became a mother a couple of years ago, and it was my first time having a child. This means I made every single beginner mistake there is, including one of the most common — for over a year, I barely had any time for self-care. Not beyond the basics needed to keep me alive. The rest of the time was spent taking care of the baby, the house, or working.

What little time I had free was spent with friends and family. Which was and is wonderful to do, but that led to me spending almost a year without spending any time on myself, by myself. And that was not the smartest move.

After that year, I decided to make a list of the reasons why it was important for me to make time for self-care. Something I could keep around as a reminder. And since I feel this can help others, I’d like to share that list with you today.

Stress will tank your productivity

You need to manage your stress levels, or your life will become a nervous wreck. By the end of that year, I felt as if I was just putting out fire after fire with no end in sight, and even minor inconveniences were enough to make me want to curl into a ball and give up. If you don’t make time to take care of yourself and get some air, stress and burnout will eventually make you crash. And that will be a lot worse for both your personal and your professional life.

You need to watch your health

I was so busy with everything that I never made time to exercise, and often used being busy as an excuse to eat junk food. And sometimes that’s the only option you have, but you need to make sure you are not just using being busy as an excuse. There is usually some way you can carve out time to take better care of your health and your body. You may not be able to do everything you’d like to, but you should be able to find time for at least some self-care.

Don’t forget that, as a parent, you are in for the long run. If you trash your health in the first year after having a kid, that will make the following years much harder.

Self-care makes you look better

That may sound silly, and more than a bit futile, but making myself look better it’s a big motivation when it comes to helping me take better care of myself. But it isn’t about impressing others or getting more compliments. I realized a while back, while looking for a concealer for older skin, that taking care of my beauty works as this weird sort of meditation for me. It calms me down, makes me feel more confident.

And once I realized that neglecting myself was making me look worse, I found it much easier to justify taking a break from time to time. Maybe it’ll have the same effect on you.

The link above is for Fièra cosmetics, by the way, which is the brand I’ve been using. They have one of the best concealers you’ll find online. It’s smooth, it offers great coverage, and it matches my skin tone — it was hard to find a good match for me, so I can’t stop talking about them now. They also donate a meal for every sale made, which is the icing on the cake for me.

You’re easier to be around when you’re happy

Finally, another big reason why I finally started taking better care of myself was just trying to be a better mom and friend for the people around me. My stress levels made it harder for people to be around me, and it was putting a strain on my relationships. When I started making more time for myself, which included spending less time with friends and family, I ended strengthening those bonds, rather than weakening them.