Mama Mingle event – Wellness Edition

My birthday was on Saturday 15th February and I spent it with a group of amazing moms at my third Mama Mingle event. I couldn’t have celebrated in a better way. I personally thrive on interpersonal connections and good energy, so it was a truly uplifting experience.

I turned 33 and this year, I just want to be bold and take up every opportunity which is aligned with my purpose – connecting people, helping people and making a real difference. Our Miss Universe, Zozibini Tunzi, said it best to “take up space”.

Through partnership with BubHub Westrand, we hosted 20 moms who all brought their unique magic and stories into the room. The theme for the day was wellness – particularly around managing stress and the multiple juggling that we do as moms. We wear so many different hats in our homes, careers, personal lives and society – it’s overwhelming to say the least!

How can we cope better?

The impact and support we can give each other, as moms, is immeasurable. We got together to celebrate our unique journeys, to cry, advise one another and get practical solutions that we can carry into our everyday lives.
We may have different households, children and circumstances, but there is a lot that we have in common. We all struggle, face challenges and feel like we are not good enough in some areas.

Simply hearing that we all have similar issues, created that shift and bond for us.

Guest Speakers and the lessons of the day:

We had two special guest-speakers Candice Luck from Connected Well-Being and Karabo Mokoena who is a content producer for Parenty, the Citizen’s parenting site.

Here is a snippet of our insights:

• Self awareness enables us to understand where we are now and the areas, we need to work on. To have good self-awareness, we need to create time for ourselves and the reflection thereof.
• Your journey is unique to you for a purpose. You have no business trying to be anyone else but yourself. Social media can put unnecessary pressure on us and that’s why its important to build in-person relationships with other moms for support.
• Be mindful of the words you use – to others and most importantly, to yourself.
• 
• Create your own definition of self-care; it looks different for all of us.
  Pain and grief are part of life, but we don’t have to go through it alone. Get help when you need it.
• Use relaxed breathing exercises to reset, rethink and refresh your mind whenever you need to throughout the day.
• Nurture your creativity – allowing your inner child to come out and play is healing.
• Make gratitude a part of your daily habits and change your perspective.

Candice shares her wellness tips online @ConnectedWellBeing on IG and Karabo shares hers on @ParentySA and @BlackMomChronicles. You want to be following these amazing mamas!

Our treats

You can’t do wellness without getting pampered right? Cherry Blossom Beauty Studio was onsite to give the mama’s special foot massages. They are based in Randpark and always have great specials!

We indulged in Sally Williams gourmet nougat in between the talks, enjoying the cranberry, almond and macadamia flavours. BubHub took care of the coffee, Parenty provided the most hilarious mugs and Free Sweet Co made sure that we kept it healthy – these sugar replacements have zero carbs or artificial ingredients.

The actual goodie bags were provided by Baby Yum Yum and they were faaaar from ordinary! Each bag was made from a recycled billboard. How amazing?! The team also treated each mama with some product samples.

Luma Beauty – a new kid on the South African block, gave one lucky mama a hamper worth R2000! I was totally hating. The range consists of multi-purpose use products with illuminating properties. Can you say GLOW?!

Other fabulous prizes were sponsored by MotherKindCo, Kist Photography, The Hair Room and Fairlady magazine.

At the end of the session, the ladies surprised me with the most beautiful birthday cake – I’m still having it with breakfast, lunch and supper. Loved that it matched my skirt! The cake was made by Sarah of @BakedWithLove001 on IG. Thank you again.

All the decor was done by Muano Events.

A little bit about Bub Hub

Bub Hub offers is a unique concept studio and a one-stop shop for fun children’s classes, prenatal support and postnatal classes for moms. The Westrand branch is run by two amazing women – Danielle and Lugene who are moms themselves. Through their studio, they provide support and educational programmes, such as baby massage, baby signing, toddler discipline, first aid, and toddler art workshops, tailored for the modern mom. Moms come and have their special time with their babies, particularly during their maternity leave period, where looking after a baby can feel lonely and overwhelming. They are there to guide and uplift you with the very best tips and access professionals. Follow @BubHubWestrand for all their baby and mama classes.

A very special thanks to all the moms who attended and the brands that put smiles on our faces!

Does getting together with other women refresh you just as much? The next #MamaMingleSA will take place in April – make sure you’re following me on Instagram and Facebook to get all the details.

Love,
Modern Zulu Mom