A Time for Everything: Supermoms can take on the world - and look good doing it
Anthea is a 28 year old mom of two wonderful kids, Anastasia (2 years and 8 months) and Raffaele (8 months). A Physiotherapist by profession who’s also managing her own online business and blog, Anthea always has something to do. With the support of her husband Gabriel, she shares with us how she (somehow!) manages everything - while never forgetting to take care of herself, as well.
Anthea’s story is not new. Mothers everywhere are constantly challenged with juggling not only their tasks, but trying to balance their identities and making sure all aspects of their lives and selves are rich and healthy. This Mother’s Day, we hope supermom Anthea’s story can be an inspiration for all mothers out there, no matter the age or background, including our soon-to-be moms. ❤
Changing gears: Being a mom isn’t easy
Mum of 2 + part-time housewife. Aside from a small business and a blog, she cooks, cleans and takes care of the children. "It's all a matter of timing yourself and your to-do list. Never give up - If I can do it, so can you!" |
“Ever since I had my kids, I decided to spend more time with them to give them as much of my time as possible to raise them, teach them, and be there for them.” Being a young mom and having her first child at 25 years old, a lot of things were new for Anthea when they decided to have kids. “I was told that I have ruined my life,” says Anthea, “that I would never be on my own again, that I will lose my independence.” Family and friends were thrilled with the news, but Anthea felt that those kinds of ideas were inevitable. Being a mother is full of challenges. How do you manage to take care of two little humans and yourself? On bad days, she might even question her decision to have children in the first place. “But the thoughts immediately vanish,” she says, “when I see toothless grins smiling up at me.” |
For Anthea, time is one of the biggest challenges, especially when you’re young. You want to be as active and as productive as possible - and these are things that you might feel like you’re giving up as a young mother. “I wanted to look back at my life and see all that I had accomplished,” says Anthea. Despite time and her personal well-being becoming her biggest challenges in her journey as a young mother, she was determined to succeed and set goals for herself, her career, and the way she handled her role as a mom.
The balancing act: career, family, and self
Time is a challenge, but you will always have control over how to choose to use your time. Time, indeed, waits for no one - and it is precisely why Anthea believes in the power of planning your time to make sure you don’t waste any.
Kids do better with routines, as it turns out. This was an important discovery for Anthea. “Both Anastasia and Raffaele have their own routines, which I then adapted into my work life AND personal life,” she shares. “Everything at the moment, revolves around them.”
Being a mom changes you. Anthea believes it heightened her empathy - and that newfound sense of understanding has lit her path professionally. Once kids entered her life, she saw the value in taking care of things, whether it’s businesses or the people, and helping them grow. Today, she does her best to make sure she supports the growth of small businesses through her own enterprise. “This approach has helped me work even harder for my goals,” shares Anthea, motivated by a good future she can give her kids both practically and in principle. |
"Yes, I'm the person behind the backend of the website, the emails and the deliveries - it all goes through me, every single upload, and every single order."
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"My blogging channel is slowly growing, but I don't see it as a job - far from it! I see it as a hobby, as a means of helping small businesses. When I blog personally about my lifestyle, I do try and show mostly the positive side, however it's not always the case as that's unrealistic." |
Between children and a career, moms always have their plates full. But it doesn’t mean that moms should ignore their well-being completely, nor sacrifice their projects and aspirations. All three should go hand-in-hand. Being a mother cannot be separated from who you are as a woman or as a professional. Your well-being is the pillar of all your undertakings, and your profession or career supports your family - the roles cannot be separated as much as your identity cannot be simply taken apart. Instead, finding the synergy between them and maintaining them in equal measure is key. “If one fails, all fails,” says Anthea. In a similar way, enriching each aspect positively impacts the whole. |
Finding time to care for yourself
“I have a soft spot for pampering,” says Anthea. “How can I not?”
For this young mom, pampering yourself is one of the ideal ways to practise self-care and making time for yourself. Once again, establishing a routine is key to make sure you always have that time and space for yourself amidst everything else you have to do. This way, you also give yourself a place of equal importance, which is good for your mental and emotional well-being.
Anthea’s advice: schedule a routine on both morning and night, when you wake up and right before you go to sleep. Keeping the schedule anchored on specific events in the day rather than a specific time, and committing to it, helps your routine be more flexible especially as young children’s routines follow a different schedule. For example, Anthea does her skincare routine in the morning after Raffaele’s morning nap. “It doesn’t take 5 minutes, but it helps me feel happy that I have taken care of myself.”
Getting support from your partner (or your support system, whether it’s friends or family - there are all sorts of arrangements out there and every single one is valid!), is also crucial to make sure you can balance your life and sense of self. Whoever is supporting you should also know your routine. “If they don’t know, they won’t know how to help you!,” says Anthea. Communicating is one of the pillars of a healthy support system, and this includes negotiating the space and time for each other to attend to themselves. It can be as simple as having a sip of coffee or tea on the terrace for some fresh air, like Anthea likes to do while Gabriel spends time with the kids.
Anthea’s skincare routine:
Concise and complete for moms on the go
We understand that moms usually have their schedules full - but we believe that it shouldn’t be a reason to overlook taking care of your skin. Having a busy schedule, erratic sleeping patterns, and even pregnancy can affect skin health as well. So we approached Anthea with a suggestion of creating a complete routine that she can do quickly, and still deliver the nourishment her skin needs so she can look good while taking on the world!
This skincare routine is not only quick, but loaded with nutrition to make sure her skin gets the love it deserves, and organic, natural ingredients keep it gentle and safe.
Anthea’s Review: “First off, I felt super well-taken care of as the people behind Peaches&Creme are so kind and helpful! They listened to my concerns, and addressed them very professionally, providing me with all the necessary products I needed for my ideal skincare. Honestly, hand on heart, my skin has never felt this good! They all have a signature rosy scent, which I absolutely love, and my skin also appears to be glowing, and feels so soft after every routine. Cannot recommend them highly enough!” |
Anthea’s advice for all moms:
A happy you is key
You’re doing nothing wrong.
Everyone's routine is different. But just because our routines are not the same, doesn't mean any one of us is doing something wrong.
Take the time to take care of yourself.
Find your passion and implement it into your lifestyle. Don't fully stop it just because you've had kids, as this will not make you 100% happy. We cannot expect to be happy raising our kids if we, mentally and personally, are not happy.
Your mental health matters, too.
And never forget it! You matter. Take care of yourself as much as you take care of everything else. :)
Follow Anthea on Instagram for more mommy blogger tips and content! 👉 @antheamariaellul
Follow her business, an online shop for the local Maltese artists 👉 @kikkra_malta
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