5 Healthy Habits That Will TRANSFORM Your Life As A Mom | Stop Surviving & Start Living Again!

I've realized something over the past year, becoming a better mom was never about finding the perfect schedule or routine. It definitely wasn't about buying a new planner, waking up every single day at 3 a.m., or exhausting myself with another influencer's list of must-have products. It was about stewarding my mind, my body, and most importantly, my spirit. Because when I feel healthy, I show up differently for my husband, for my children, for my family. So today, I wanna share five rhythms that have genuinely transformed the way that I show up, not only for myself, but also in motherhood. And the coolest thing is that almost every single one of these rhythms is backed by modern science and the Bible. Hey, girl, hey, what is up? Welcome back, or welcome to my channel. My name is Maya, and I'm so excited to be sitting down with you guys. It's been a minute since I've done a little sit-down chat, because I feel like I've just been living. There's been lots of vlogs that have been happening. I've kind of been in the moment, so it's been hard for me to sit down and give you guys a well-thought-out video. But I've been thinking about this topic for the past couple of months, because I have recently been so into learning just about how faith and neuroscience are so connected and how the Lord has revealed himself in so many different ways. And I have been very intentional about implementing healthy rhythms in my life, which is why I'm so excited to share these five rhythms with you. Because the reality is, we already have everything that we need. I know we think the new routine has to have five million different planners, 10 different colored cute markers, pens. You gotta have, and listen, I love that. That's real cute. But God has given us so many things that are meant to make us thrive, and it's just about incorporating these on a daily basis and making it a daily rhythm. So these are the five daily rhythms that have helped me to show up better in motherhood specifically, but I think they can also apply to anyone's life. But as moms, we do carry so much mental load. And I believe the Lord has made us women in a specific way where we are blessed with the gift of multitasking and being able to juggle and manage so much. But truthfully, it can feel a bit overwhelming if you don't have healthy rhythms to reset you and to ground you. You guys have probably heard a couple of these before, but I wanna go in depth on a few, because I think that they can really help you out. So let's get into it. Habit number one is coming out of 1 Corinthians 6, 19 through 20. Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit? Rhythm number one, lifestyle tip number one is to move your body on a daily basis. Daily basis, daily, emphasize the daily. This is a daily rhythm. This is not, oh, I'ma get to the gym a couple times this week. I'ma maybe do the stair master here and there. Baby, if you want to thrive, if you want to have a clear mind, if you want to be sober-minded and be able to think clearly, I'ma need you to move that body. Like the Lord, this is, again, we're science and a Bible, science and a Bible. They saying the same thing. They saying move that body, move that body. I kid you not, the weeks where I go very sporadically to the gym are the weeks where I'm very unwell, I'm not okay in the mind. Like it's just, it's so clear that when I'm moving my body on a daily basis, my mind also follows suit. And I am not a scientist, so I don't know the entire science behind it, but I have a couple facts to give you guys. Science has proved that exercise reduces your cortisol levels, releases endorphins, which we all love and know, improves executive functioning. So all of the tasks that you have to do later on in the day are actually gonna be executed better if you move your body. It improves your mood, reduces anxiety, and improves your sleep. Now, here's the thing. You don't have to go to the gym and do a whole crazy routine, leave there drenched in sweat just to say that you worked out. Because this is a rhythm, a lifestyle, a daily habit, not every single day is gonna look like that. It can be going on a walk with your kids, playing pickleball, playing tennis. It can be swimming. Swimming has been huge for me. I did not realize how much of a workout swimming was until I've been doing so much swimming this summer. And I'm like, wow, this is like my daily movement. Jumping on the trampoline with the kids for 30 minutes. Anything to get your body moving. I know sometimes we have limited mobility, we have restrictions, but if there is a will, there is a way. That's one thing I've learned. And I want you in this video to take all of the roadblocks out of your mind. Sometimes we can tell ourselves certain things over and over and over that it becomes our reality. But I want you right now to take every roadblock, every excuse, lift it from your mind. And I want you to say, if there's a will, then there's a way. And write down your plan of how you're going to execute this. Again, because this is a lifestyle and it's not a 30-day shred program, every single day is not gonna be a super intense workout. It's just about creating the rhythm and the lifestyle of moving every single day. And I will say for the moms, when I do work out, specifically in the morning, I don't know if it's just me, I am an advocate for working out in the morning. I feel like that's when I have the most energy. I feel the effects throughout the day when I work out in the morning. But to each their own. I'm a still advocate for morning though. I feel like it just makes the most sense. I know we all got different schedules and stuff, but I think the morning just works. Especially if you're a mom and you're gonna be with your kids all day. The way my mood, girl, night and day. I be up making pancakes after I've worked out. Girl, I be up smiling, singing songs to people if I don't work out. If I don't work out and there's a toddler in my bed when I wake up, do you realize? You know what I'm saying? Do you realize how my day can go? So at this point, I've just stopped making excuses. It's either I'm going to work out or I'm probably not gonna have a good day. I'ma pick my struggle and I'ma pick waking up early to work out every single time. Habit number two, this is my fave. Y'all are gonna love this because I have loved this and it has absolutely transformed my life. Daily rhythm number two is to turn your phone into a landline. Stay with me now, stay with me now, stay with me now. So I have two things to make this possible. I bought this device called a Brick. So what the Brick does is it basically locks certain apps on your phone and you can set it for like a daily timer every single day. So my phone Bricks, which means all of my social media, all of my work things, even my camera actually Bricks at 8 p.m. every single night. And then I take this little phone of mine, I put it on this little like, I don't even know what it is. I bought it off of Amazon. It's like a phone holder. I put it in the phone holder on the wall and guess what I do? I walk away, I walk away. You know when our mamas was like, it's really that phone? No, it's really that phone. I'm trying to tell y'all, it's really that phone. It'd really be that phone. It'd be the late night scrolls. It'd be the doom scrolling. It'd be the comparing yourself. It'd be all that. It'd really be that phone. So turning my phone into a landline has truly like restored, not altered, but restored my brain back into what it's supposed to be. Okay. Like I just, I think about how much time I have wasted and this is coming from someone who does socials. I do this full time, but I also see how if you don't have boundaries with it, it can become like anything consuming and addictive and we know what excessive screen time can do to your mind. Again, let's bring science in and let's bring the Bible in. What are you meditating on day and night? If you're meditating on your lack, if you're meditating on what you don't have, if you're meditating on someone else's life, if you're meditating on coveting and jealousy, that is gonna be a reality. Just like when we bring it into science, if you're constantly filling your mind with things that are just so anxiety inducing, depressing, maybe you love to scroll and watch the news, that is also gonna have an effect on your mental health. We've seen this. We've seen the studies. We know this. And this is not saying that our phones are bad, horrible devices that we need to throw out. Some people may have that conviction. I don't. I believe that there are amazing things that can come out of social media and the internet and all of the things. Clearly, I'm sitting in front of you right now, but I also know the danger of navigating this without boundaries. Maybe 8 p.m., the phone is being bricked and the phone is going on the landline shelf. And guess what? I can still call people. That's the cool thing about the brick, is you can still allow certain apps to be accessible. So by 8 p.m., I can only text and I can only call. So it's actually technically not a landline. It's more so like a flip phone. I turned my phone into a flip phone. Okay. Girl, this has saved my life. It's gonna be hard at first, trust me. You're gonna wanna reach for your phone at night. I did not realize how much I actually reached for my phone until I started to make my phone into a landline, because I'm like, wow, like now I don't have that thing that pulls me at night. Guess what? Now I'm reaching for my word. Amen? Now I'm present with my kids, because here's the thing. Even for like the stay-at-home moms, there's a difference of being present physically and being present with your mind. And something as simple as us putting our phones away, taking away the distraction, taking away the scrolling, it focuses your mind in such a way and allows you to be truly present with your children. And that's what children deserve. Like I always think about how, the first thing my daughter does, because usually she's sleeping in her bed, she wakes up and she's like looking for me. Like she's looking for me. She's looking for my eyes. She's looking for a touch. She's looking for a hug. And it's so sad that most of the time, our children are looking for us. And this is not to shame any moms, because I've definitely had my fair share of scrolling sessions while my kids were yelling and screaming and it was just a lot. And I had to take a second. Our kids can be so present, so there, so willing, so desiring of us and how we can be so far removed emotionally simply because of that doggone phone, that doggone phone. So it really be the phones, y'all. If you try anything from this video, turn your phone into a landline for a week and come back into the comment section and tell your testimony. Okay, habit number three is something that I have definitely taken serious this year. It's been my year of nutrition. You guys know I love to go in the gym. That's no problem. Nutrition's another thing, but we're working on it, amen. Okay, the Lord is faithful. He's working on me day by day by day by day. He's refining me. He's doing all the things. So tip number three is to nourish your body. Fuel your body. If you wake up and you expect your body to be at 100% all day, and you have fed it literal garbage, the math ain't mathin', the math don't make sense, and it's also something as simple as just feeding yourself in the morning. I used to not eat in the morning, and I was like, oh, I'm just not hungry in the morning, and the reality is, no, I just, my whole eating schedule was just messed up. When I have prioritized a protein-packed breakfast opposed to a sugar-filled dessert breakfast, the way that mentally I perform, physically I perform, my mood, everything, it is so interesting how what we put in our body has a direct impact on our performance, on our cognitive health, on our overall, just mood, mood is really big for me, and when I eat sugar direct, first thing in the morning, girl, donuts and coffee and all of that, my body's like, girl, hold on, wait, like, wait, you expect me to chase kids around all day? To be productive, to do all of these things, running on that, it don't make sense, and as much as we try to downplay food, food has a direct impact to your health. We see this in scripture, when the Lord tells us that our bodies are temples, again, scriptures speak directly against gluttony, and then, obviously, we've seen this confirmed in science, like, this ain't nothing new, okay, God is true to this, not new to this, but I know that nutrition can be a very taboo topic, it can honestly just be confusing. If you've never been informed on nutrition, it can seem very overwhelming, that was definitely how I was feeling in the beginning of the year, like I said, working out was no problem, but when it came to nourishing my body, that's definitely something I struggled with, and I think, specifically for me, the biggest shift in my health journey was understanding not just what to eat, but why I was eating what I was eating, because I have struggled with emotional eating for quite some time, and I didn't realize until I actually got a registered dietitian, and we were kinda talking through some of my eating habits and eating patterns, and it was revealed to me that I definitely struggled with emotional eating, and used it to cope for various things, whether I was stressed or overwhelmed or just exhausted from motherhood, food became a comfort to me, and working one-on-one with a registered dietitian through Nourish has helped me recognize the difference between emotional eating and true hunger. It's helped me to build sustainable habits and to fuel my body instead of using food to cope. So a huge shout out to Nourish for actually sponsoring this video. My Nourish dietitian even helped me to understand my labs and blood work. We built a diet around that, so I was actually eating things that my body needed. I really do love how everything lives inside of the Nourish app, so you can log all of your meals, you can communicate with your dietitian through there, and you can even get AI-inspired meal inspiration. And Nourish accepts hundreds of insurance plans, and 94% of patients pay $0 out of pocket. And with the Nourish guarantee, there is no surprise billing. Your appointment will never cost more than your estimate. If you've been struggling with food or you don't even know where to start when it comes to nutrition, then I would highly recommend checking out a registered dietitian through Nourish today. And like I said, you could even be getting a free dietitian that is completely covered by your insurance. To check your eligibility, make sure to click the link down in the description so you can connect with your registered dietitian through Nourish. Okay, healthy mom habit, grow something. I have a little testimony when it comes to gardening, okay? So sit down, we about to chat. So I knew at the beginning of summer I wanted to start a garden. Well, no, it wasn't a garden. What I really wanted to do was create a beautiful front porch. And I didn't want a garden because I knew that gardening was gonna take time and patience, and clearly that's something that I struggle with. So I was like, I am gonna go buy a whole bunch of fake flowers off of TikTok shop, and I'm gonna just put them on the porch and it's gonna look cute, but like it's plastic all around me. But I was okay with that because it was gonna look cute. As soon as I was about to place my order on TikTok shop, the Lord convicted me in such a way. And he was like, Maya, my oh my, you struggle with patience, my daughter. And because you struggle with patience, you are so willing to accept the bare minimum, the literal bottom of the barrel minimum. But if you were to wait, then you would see the true fruit, like literal, the true fruit of what I'm trying to do, not only for you, but through you. Like I wanna give you the garden, but there's also gonna be something that happens through you in the process of the garden. So I was like, oh, I feel so convicted. So I was like, okay, I'm not gonna buy the fake flowers. I took maybe like an hour of scrolling. And I was like, I'm gonna learn how to garden. This is my new thing. I'm gonna learn how to garden. I'm gonna do it, God. I keep saying, again, I know sometimes we put these limiting beliefs on ourselves. Like I can do this. I don't have a green thumb. I don't like doing this. And that's what I would say about gardening. But I was like, you know what? Let me just release all of these thoughts. And if you think I can do it, God, then let me just do a little research. And one thing about me, when I start to like something, I start to really like something. And before you know it, I literally was in my garden every single day learning about how to plant beautiful flowers and bushes. But there was also such a beauty in having to instill, because I'm still working on my garden, going out there every single day and taking care of something. And I know as moms, we can feel very overwhelmed. Like I'm already taking care of these kids. I don't have any more capacity to take care of anything else. But there's something about taking care of a plant and literally watching it grow. I feel like there's so many different parallels in life. Even how, when you take care of yourself, like every single day, you're just pouring a little bit of water onto yourself. You're just seeing yourself sprout a little bit more. And it's so beautiful because I felt like a dead little hydrangea bush last year. I had no leaves and I was all crippled and crumpled and all of the things and just looked a mess. But every single day as I started to water and I started to do these things for myself, implement these rhythms, I'm now seeing the fruit of all of that labor. Like when the Bible says, do not grow weary in well-doing, there's so much truth in that because I can't see what's happening to my plants every time I water them. All I can see is me just watering it. I can't see what's happening under the soil and how the roots are connecting and they're growing and how these little buds are starting to blossom. Like I can't see that until one day I walk outside and I'm like, oh wow, my hydrangea bush has blossomed and it's so beautiful. And I think that this is encouraging to a woman out there who feels like no matter what she does, it doesn't matter, it's not worth it. That no matter how much work she puts in, it just doesn't make a difference. That's literally a lie. That's a lie biblically. That's a lie scientifically. Like something has to break when you continue to work at something. When you continue to give something your all, something will break. It takes time. It takes patience. It takes dedication, but something will break in the mighty name of Jesus. So whatever mom is out there and she has been struggling and she is just feeling like, Lord, I can't do it another day. I just encourage you one more day, one more step. Take one more step today. Your work is not in vain and the Lord will help you in your weakest hour. Lord Jesus, you done turned this gardening segment into a message and I thank you Lord for it because it is so true. So all in all, I would encourage anyone, and maybe it's not gardening, but maybe it's a task or a hobby that you have been putting off simply because of time or just because you just don't feel like doing it. You don't think it's gonna be rewarding. Just give it an effort. Like put your heart towards it and I have just seen the fruit of this in gardening specifically and it's something that I would encourage every mom to do. Okay, habit number five. This is another one that I love and it's been so sweet and rewarding and fruitful and that is to replace lies with scripture, literally. Okay, stick with me. I got this idea a while back from one of my sisters in Christ and she would write scriptures and put them all around her house, specifically in like some pain point areas where she knew that throughout the day, she would experience some type of warfare or just like the day-to-day struggles of life. So in the kitchen, when she would feel really overwhelmed with cooking dinner, she would have a scripture that would be like, do not grow weary in well-doing or maybe in her children's room, like children are a gift from the Lord. Something to remind her of the truth in places where the lies can become so real and so loud and you need something physically to look at, to ground you and be like, no, that is a lie. This is the truth and having that scripture right there on hand. It's one thing of having, again, these dog on phones. It's one thing about having a Bible F in the phone, but if we don't know what the Bible F say, when the enemy come and he's talking this mess and we don't have that scripture written on our heart, it is hard to combat the lie and the lie starts to seem so, so true. But when you can literally pick up a scripture and recite that scripture over yourself, the environment, the atmosphere literally changes and we know that our environment has a direct impact on how we show up. So change your environment by changing the narrative, changing what's being said in your environment with scripture. So I did this cute thing where I got a whole bunch of these little frames off of Amazon. Again, this is a fun little crafty idea you can do with like your friend, a little girls night or something, but I got these little frames and then I got some scrapbooking paper and I actually wrote out a bunch of scriptures and then I placed them all around my home so that way daily I am saying these things over my home, over my marriage, over myself, over my finances, over my business, over my friends, over my family, over everyone. This is such a sweet reminder of just how scripture holds so much truth. I'm gonna go on a little sidebar here but this is, I have a specific story about how scripture literally in the moment changed everything. So I was getting a root canal done. I don't think I talked to you guys about this but I did end up getting a root canal. This was three weeks ago. I did not realize how much of a fear I had of dental procedures until this root canal. Like I've never had a full blown panic attack until that moment. I was in the chair, the dentist is just like, you hear all the clinks and all of the drills and everything and he's numbing my mouth and I could literally feel my heart. Like this is how I would imagine my heart looked because that's how it felt. It felt like my heart was literally beating out of my chest, like that loud. And I'm like breathing hard and he's like, are you okay? And I'm like, yeah. And there's tears streaming down my face and I am like full on freaking out. I had no one there in the room with me. My husband wasn't there. He was in the waiting room. It was literally just me. This was a moment where there was no one else but God who I can call on. I kid you not, I started to say under my breath, even as the tears are streaming down, I'm like, the Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. The Lord is my shepherd. I lack nothing. He makes me lie behind beside green pastures. He restores my soul. I'm saying the Psalms over and over and over. And in that moment, as soon as I was done reciting that Psalm, I kid you not, that anxiety, that like deep fear left my body. This was one of those experiences where you were like, no, that worked. That would, that, God, what? I know you, I know you are real but my oh my, it was like instantly, he lifted it and it was so insane to me because it just reminded me of like how much power scripture holds. Lord have mercy, how much power scripture holds. It like, it has the final say over the anxiety. It has the final say over the depression. It has the final say over the mental illness. It has the final say over your physical body. It has the final say because if Jesus was the word made flesh, come on somebody, then I'm gonna learn these scriptures and I'm gonna start saying them. I'm gonna speak them and declare them over my life. I'm gonna declare them over my family. I'm gonna declare them over my friends and I'm gonna trust that the Lord is going to do a work because if he is who he says he is, then I'm gonna trust him and I'm gonna believe him, amen. All that goes to say, baby, write them scriptures on your house. Do you know that if you peel back drywall on my house, you know what you will find? Scriptures. Do you wanna know what every single person says when they walk into this home? I just feel the presence of God, baby, because I've been reciting the word of God all over my home. His oil is everywhere and that's nothing to brag on me. That's the power of God. That is what he does. Lord, have mercy. You done, girl, listen, I don't even wanna film this video today, but Lord, I thank you, Jesus. I thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, Lord. Girl, listen, let me just tell you this. Everyone is going to say you need something to get to where you need to go. You need a new product. You need a new this. You need a new that. You need Jesus. Okay, I'm gonna just tell you like it is. You need Jesus. There's no routine that is going to trump getting to know the Lord because what he has said in his scriptures, the word of God has given us everything that we needed. Everything that I have said has also been confirmed by science. Like I said, this is not new information. God has already designed us to need certain things. Our bodies need movement. Our minds need rest from mindless scrolling. So if there is anything that you need on this earth, it is Jesus. There is nothing else that will compare. And I'm not saying that these other things aren't good, right, like a routine is good. Like having a fun little skincare routine, that's good. Maybe revamping your wardrobe, that's good. But it's not soul-saving and I'm here to bring souls to the kingdom. I need y'all, I need y'all coming with me. Lord have mercy, I need y'all coming with me. And the beautiful thing about all this is that the gift of salvation is quite literally a gift and it is accessible and it's available to anyone. Anyone who would inquire, anyone who would say in their heart that Jesus Christ is Lord, anyone who would believe that truly, totally, wholeheartedly, it is theirs. I am so grateful for this video. I feel like there was a lot of good nuggets and I'm so grateful for you, girl. This world is crazy, okay. I'm just trying to have this little peaceful corner of the internet. So if you ever feel like life is too crazy, things are just too much, come over here, girl. I'm gonna give you a virtual hug and we're gonna do life together. I am here to inspire you, to motivate you, to do all the things, but also just to live life with you because we are just girls. We're just girls trying to figure this thing out and I'm just so proud of you for getting up and trying today. So thank you for tuning in. I hope you enjoyed this video. I can't wait to hear your guys' thoughts down below and until next time, I will see you next video. Bye.