The Small Moments That Helped Me Feel Like Myself Again During PPD

The moment your algorithm figures out you’re pregnant, it starts saying goodbye to the old you. The feed that once knew you as someone looking for your next book club read, training for a 10K, or hunting down the latest skin-care launch slowly morphs into hospital bag checklists, baby carriers, and the stroller that’s supposedly going to change your life. (Seriously, why are there more stroller models than cars? Asking for a friend.) Every swipe comes with the promise of optimizing life with your newborn. And before long, the algorithm mirrors real life: Somewhere between the wake windows and diaper comparisons, your own interests fade into the background.

Of course, becoming a parent changes you. Your priorities shift, and with them, your sense of self does too. But for moms navigating postpartum depression (PPD), that loss of identity can feel especially profound. According to the CDC, about one in eight women experiences symptoms of PPD after giving birth, a condition that can leave new mothers feeling disconnected from themselves.

Every mom with PPD we spoke with emphasized that getting the support they needed — whether through counseling, leaning on loved ones, or building a community around them — was foundational to navigating it. While they didn’t view the smaller moments of self-care as a substitute for therapy, they described those ordinary rituals as something different: tiny reminders of the person who still existed underneath the exhaustion and the fog.

Ahead, four moms share the everyday instances that helped them rediscover parts of their identity while navigating PPD and how those seemingly ordinary rituals became stepping stones back to feeling like themselves again.

Put Yourself On The Calendar, Too

For Lauren, finding her way back to herself started with a calendar invite that had just one attendee: her.

The same way you wouldn’t accidentally forget your baby’s pediatrician appointment, she realized she had to stop treating her own needs as something she’d get to “if there was time.” So she blocked off “Self-Care Fridays,” which involved a little time dedicated to doing something unrelated to raising kids or running a household. “When you’re in the thick of it, raising young kids and working, it is so hard to find those moments of your pre-babies self,” she says. “Some days you feel like you’re just in survival mode.”

Those Friday afternoons might mean she’d read a novel instead of parenting books, go for a walk, exercise — anything that reminded her of who she was before motherhood. But Lauren is quick to point out that self-care didn’t always look like multiple uninterrupted hours to herself. Instead, she looked for ways to build it into the plans she already had that day. She’d toss a book into her bag before another long day at her older kids’ sports tournaments, reading a few pages on the sidelines instead of small talk with other parents. She kept sneakers in the trunk so she could walk laps in between errands. And instead of setting ambitious goals, she kept them intentionally more realistic for herself (for instance, reading just 10 pages a day). Whatever the goal, it was about treating time for herself with the same importance as every other commitment on her calendar.

Leave The House Without Feeling Guilty

Before becoming a mom, the gym had always been one of Jennifer’s favorite places — a space where she could throw on her headphones, blast her favorite playlist, and think about absolutely nothing except herself. That instinct to get moving is backed by research, too. A recent study found that just 80 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise per week was associated with moderate reductions in the severity of PPD symptoms, underscoring how movement can be one meaningful part of a broader postpartum support plan.

Getting back, at first, wasn’t as empowering as she’d imagined. “I was fully overstimulated,” she says. “I felt embarrassed. I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing anymore.” Then came the guilt: “I had immense guilt about being away and spending time on myself,” she says.

It wasn’t until Jennifer reframed the way she thought about that hour at the gym that things began to shift. She began to see her time spent outside the house as helping her show up as a better mom. “I started having more awareness about how taking care of myself impacts the way I show up for my child,” she says. “Eventually, that time became non-negotiable — however I could squeeze it in.”

Today, Jennifer is a therapist specializing in perinatal mental health, a path inspired by her own experience with PPD and postpartum anxiety. Feeling like herself again didn’t require a complete life overhaul. It began with something much smaller — giving herself permission to walk out the front door, knowing that motherhood hadn’t erased who she was, and that taking time for herself wasn’t taking anything away from her child.

Rediscover A Creative Side

Melissa’s journey began with rediscovering a creative side of herself through a single drop-in painting class at a local art studio. With two young kids at home, the idea of dusting off art supplies and carving out uninterrupted creative time in her living room felt unrealistic. However, committing to just one class seemed far more doable, as everything was already prepared and she simply needed to show up. “Being creative again reminded me there was a part of me that still existed outside of motherhood,” she says.

That one class eventually turned into a recurring weekly session. “Signing up for a class made me much more accountable to actually showing up for myself,” she says. “If it had just been me telling myself I’d paint at home one day, it probably never would have happened. After a while, it became something I looked forward to each week.”

Research shows that creative arts interventions — including music therapy and other creative activities — were associated with significant improvements in PPD symptoms, anxiety, and overall psychological well-being. While an art class isn’t the same as formal art therapy, Melissa says carving out dedicated time to create gave her mind somewhere to go that had nothing to do with motherhood.

Turn Your Skin-Care Routine Into You-Time

If being a mom teaches you anything, it’s that the bathroom is sometimes the only place you can count on for a few undisturbed minutes of peace. (Well... until your toddlers figure out how to open the door.) After months of pausing mid-shampoo because she was convinced she heard phantom crying (IYKYK), Sarah began lingering at the bathroom sink for a few extra minutes after her shower.

It wasn’t because she expected a miracle cream to erase months of sleep deprivation or make her look like she hadn’t just grown and birthed an entire human. Those moments at the bathroom sink became more than a skin-care routine. “It was more about the ritual itself,” she says. Cleansing her face, smoothing on moisturizer, and spending a couple of silent minutes caring for her skin felt comfortingly familiar. “It’s something I had done every day before I became somebody’s mom.”

And, of course, glowing skin doesn’t make PPD go away — but feeling like a person worth caring for is a pretty good place to start.

Presented by BDG Studios