If you’re not already subscribed to my Substack, that’s where I get more personal—writing from the heart about self-care, motherhood, wellness, and everything in between. My community liked this post there, so I wanted to share a bit with you here.
None of us wakes up planning spending more time on our phones than we want. It just happens… it happens. A quick check turns into a 20-minute scroll, and suddenly it’s 2 p.m., and you’re not sure where the morning went. We’ve been there—which is why I want to say it up front: this isn’t another article designed to make you feel guilty about your screen time.
Here’s the thing—no matter how intentional I am about using my phone, I still have days where I work more than I planned. It comes up all the time in conversations with my friends, and it comes up in any conversation about parenting in 2026.
Just when I think I’ve got it figured out, I can slip back into the habits that keep me from now, free, and living the full life I want to live.
Case in point: a few weekends ago, Austin was hit by a snowstorm, and we found ourselves with four full days at home and nowhere to go. In my mind, I had this idea of a cozy, dreamy weekend—playing games, doing crafts with the kids, cleaning out closets (just me?), baking cookies, and family movie nights. And while most of those things happened, there was also a lot of refreshing my Slack notifications and scrolling through Instagram.
I felt my nervous system go into high gear—the kind of wired-yet-tired feeling that creeps up on you when you eat more than you process.
That it coincided with an incredibly turbulent time in the world didn’t help. I have allowed myself to read many comment threads of people fighting politics, throwing insults, watching incredibly disturbing videos of what happened in Minnesota. By Monday night, I could feel it in my body—disturbed, anxious, tormenting Adam and the kids over things that usually didn’t bother me.
Open the full post here to learn about boundaries that protect the parts of life that are most important to me. When I do this, I feel more aligned, less stressed, and like I have more hours in the day.