Self-Care & Mental Wellness:The Top Five Self-care Practices That Improve Mental Wellness

Laurie Moser . Published May 4th, 2025

Let’s face it. It seems that everyone is under a great deal of stress these days. This takes a toll on our mental wellness.

What are some of the best self-care practices that we can use to help improve our mental wellness and mental well-being?

In this interview series, we are talking to medical doctors, mental health professionals, health and wellness professionals, and experts about self-care or mental health who can share insights from their experience about How Each Of Us Can Use Self Care To Improve Our Mental Wellness. As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Laurie Moser.

Laurie Moser is a wellness coach and mom of four who’s on a mission to help moms stop surviving the teenage years — and start thriving through them. With seven years of experience in the fitness industry and a fierce devotion to moms’ mental health and well-being, Laurie empowers her clients to ditch the guilt and reclaim their energy. Through transformational coaching and her signature online course, she helps moms build sustainable self-care routines so they can feel grounded in themselves and more connected with their teens.

Thank you so much for doing this interview with us. It is a great honor. Our readers would love to learn more about you and your personal background. Can you please share your personal story? What has brought you to this point in your life?

Absolutely. My journey started more than 7 years ago with teaching fitness classes to older adults, people with Parkinson’s and chronic injuries. The correlation between self-care, group support and your mental health and wellbeing was pretty clear to me.

So, when I was struggling with how to support my daughter’s mental health challenges, it was group support and having a self-care practice that helped me.

I remember this moment clearly. It was a few years ago, my daughter was going through a mental health crisis. I was sitting on my bed, feeling alone, scared, heartbroken and paralyzed at that moment about what to do next to help my daughter. Tears stinging my eyes, my hands shaking and my heart beating so loud, I could hear it, I wanted someone right then to tell me what to do, to fix the problems. Just give me the answers and solutions to make everything better again. I desperately needed to feel that peace, calm and stability in our home again. I wanted to help my daughter, to connect and have a relationship with her again, she felt so distant from me at that time.

But, I couldn’t control or fix my daughter. The only thing that I could control or fix was taking control of my own mental health and wellbeing. I knew, even in that moment, that if I wanted to be there to help, support and connect with my daughter again, I needed to become a mom that could be there for her. Feeling exhausted, overwhelmed and burned out was not going to achieve this for me. That’s how my practice of self-care started. I started with daily journaling for five minutes a day. This made such a difference, that I added on breathing and movement first thing in the morning. I now have a daily self-care routine that consists of five self-care practices that have changed my life.

What is your “WHY” behind what you do? What fuels you?

One of my core values is family. When I was going through this experience with my daughter, I felt like a failure as her mom and had such anger, guilt and shame over how I was showing up as her mom at that time. I had no idea how to support and help her. This was such a feeling of helplessness.

By learning how to regulate my nervous system so that I was not in a constant state of reacting, I was able to change how I interacted with her. I did this by using self-care tools to help regulate my nervous system and take me out of a reactive state and into a calmer state. If you’re reactive and dysregulated, there’s no connection happening at all and I was in that constant cycle.

I started to see the results pretty quickly of being able to show up calm and regulated to any interaction, even if she was upset and dysregulated.

I remember this one situation with my daughter and it illustrated to me so clearly the power of being able to remain calm by regulating my nervous system. My daughter was so upset about something, she was hyperventilating crying where she couldn’t even get a word out. I looked at her with complete empathy and said “I know you’re upset right now and I’m here for you.” Right away, she stopped the heaving sobs and got up from the table and went into her room to calm herself down. This was such a beautiful example of co-regulation. She didn’t have to do anything because I was able to remain calm and show her genuine empathy, it regulated her nervous system.

I know that so many moms who feel overwhelmed, exhausted, frustrated and alone need help and support. I can do that for them. I show moms how to prioritize their own wellbeing so they can show up with calm, confidence and connection without burnout or guilt. Even though moms know how important self-care is, there are still myths around self-care and it’s not happening for a lot of moms.

One of my core beliefs is, in order to show up as the mom you want to be for your kids, you must take care of yourself first. I show moms how to do this in five minutes or less a day. I get so excited when I show a mom how to use these tools in her busy life.

Self-care is not another item to add onto your daily to-do list. It’s a practice that you can fit into pockets of your busy day and essential for your mental wellness.

Sometimes our mistakes can be our greatest teachers. Can you share a story about a mistake or failure which you now appreciate has taught you a valuable lesson?

I’m incredibly grateful for the experience that I went through with my daughter when she experienced a mental health crisis. It was a huge wake up call for me that what I was doing was not working. I was not caring for myself and prioritizing my mental health. This led to burnout, exhaustion and resentment. From this dark and low place in my life of feeling such failure and guilt as a mom, I knew things had to change.

I started with a daily consistent journaling practice. This allowed me to take control of how I started my day. I felt better equipped to handle all the daily challenges and issues that came up during the day. At that time, I felt so alone with what I was going through with my daughter. I needed support from others that understood what I was experiencing. I joined a group support program with other parents going through similar challenges. I felt heard, supported and understood by being a part of this amazing group.

What I realize now, that I didn’t realize at the time I started doing these things, was by prioritizing my own mental health and getting support from others, I started to change how I showed up for my daughter. This completely changed our dynamic, interactions and relationship. I learned new parenting skills and how to communicate and connect with her. I learned that every child is unique and what worked for my other kids did not work for her. Accepting and embracing the fact that all of our kids are unique and beautiful souls was a huge turning point in my parenting. I look back now and realize that my daughter’s mental health crisis made me a better person and parent because I did the work that was needed in order to show up as the parent I wanted to be for her.

You are a successful leader. Which three character traits do you think were most instrumental to your success? Can you please share a story or example for each?

Having self awareness is the first step to change. If you don’t have that self awareness, you can’t change anything. When my daughter was going through her mental health crisis, I had the self awareness to realize what I was doing, trying to control and fix her problems and challenges was not working, it was making things worse. Recognizing that I had to start doing something different and that started with prioritizing my own mental health.

Honesty was so important in being able to do the work to change. Getting honest with myself that if I wanted to help, support and connect with my daughter, I was going to have to change how I was showing up for her. I was reactive and caused most interactions to escalate between us. Being able to look at myself in the mirror and know that I was responsible for changing my reactions and behaviour. I was the parent and it was my job to be the role model for her and I was not doing that.

Self-compassion is probably the trait that I’m working on the most and finding the hardest right now. My skill set as a parent and how I live my life with my self-care practices and prioritizing my mental health has completely changed. I can easily get caught up in feeling guilty and ashamed about how I handled situations with her back then. That doesn’t serve or help me or anyone else when I stay stuck in guilt or shame for how I parented or handled situations years ago.

This is when it’s so important to tell myself, I did the best that I could at that time with what I knew then and now that I know more, I do better. I can honestly say, as I continue to learn new skills and evolve my way of thinking and parenting, I keep doing better. I also remind myself that life is about growth, progress and learning. If I keep growing, learning and making progress, I’m doing great!

What are some of the most interesting or exciting new projects you are working on now? How do you think that will help people?

I’m working on a new coaching program with moms right now, called the: The Connected Mom: Finding Calm & Confidence in the Teenage Years. I’m excited about this program because so many moms right now are struggling with how to support their teens, especially if the teen is struggling with mental health challenges.

Mental health challenges continue to rise for everyone, especially our teens. I know that when moms feel supported and equipped to help their teens, it makes all the difference in their teens’ lives. The challenge for a lot of moms right now, is that they don’t feel supported or equipped and don’t know the next best step to take to help their teen. I’m passionate about being a guide, coach and support for moms on how to do this.

Small steps create big change. It doesn’t happen overnight but you can change your relationship with your teen, no matter how bad you feel it is right now.

I’m excited to collaborate with others in my industry. We learn so much from others. I’ve met so many amazing women that are experts in gut health, specific teen mental health issues, such as anxiety, self-harm experts and so many others. The power and impact that I can have is small compared to connecting, collaborating and working with other amazing experts that want to support and help moms and families.

The more people that come together to support, help and normalize mental health issues, the greater the resources and outcome for everyone!

OK, thank you for all of that. Let’s now shift to the main focus of our interview, about the interface between self-care and mental health. From where you stand personally or professionally, why are you so passionate about mental well-being?

I’m passionate about mental well-being because I’ve experienced first-hand what happens when you don’t make your mental health a priority. Not only can you not be there to help, support and care for those that need you the most, you can’t live your best life.

Even though there is more talk now about mental health issues, we still have a long way to go. There is still a stigma attached to mental health and other obstacles. My goal for society as a whole is to be able to talk about your mental health and what’s going on, as normal as “how was your day?” Until it’s normalized, there will be people who will continue to feel as though they can’t talk or be open about it. Ask any parent about trying to get mental health support, resources and help for their teen or family and you will hear about the lack of resources, cost or long wait times to get the support and help needed.

There are some amazing free resources that you can instantly access, such as 988, which is available anywhere in North America.

The more resources that are easily accessible and available to everyone, the greater the benefit for all of society. Imagine living in a society where all people that needed or wanted mental health support could get it!

Based on your research or experience, how exactly does self-care impact our mental wellness?

Self-care is all about mental wellness. There are some myths around self-care, such as, it requires too much time, too complicated or it’s a luxury for when we have more time. Real self-care is about doing something that recharges, energizes you, brings you joy or calm. It’s about being mindful and this can be done by simply enjoying your cup of coffee in the morning. This is self-care.

Connection is a huge and crucial part of self-care. Most of the moms that I talk to, express feeling alone and not supported. Making sure you connect with others is essential for your mental health. We now know that connection and community are some of the biggest factors for our mental health and wellbeing. People that have a sense of community and connection, live longer, happier and more purpose driven lives. Again, this doesn’t have to be complicated. Spending a few minutes texting a friend to see how they’re doing, going for a walk with a friend, even making small talk with someone at the grocery store makes a difference and counts as connection.

When we have a self-care practice, this equips us to handle all the daily challenges and issues that come up in our lives with more calm and ease and this directly impacts our mental wellness.

When my daughter was going through her mental health crisis and I was not caring for myself and did not have a consistent self-care practice, my mental health suffered.

Can you please share your “Top Five Self-care Practices That Each Of Us Can Use To Improve Our Mental Wellness”?

I picked these as my top five self-care practices because they’ve made all the difference for my mental wellness and the moms that I help and share these tools with. They can all be done in less than five minutes a day to get started, making them doable for everyone.

First practice is breathing exercises. We all have to breathe to live so why not learn how to breathe effectively to help regulate your nervous system. Helping to take you out of reaction to be able to respond because you feel calmer. Breathing exercises have been mentioned by many experts as almost a natural tranquilizer for the sympathetic nervous system — the system that makes us feel stress and anxiety as a defense mechanism. By learning how to use breathing to calm your nervous system, you instantly can shift into your parasympathetic nervous system, the rest, digest and calm part of your nervous system. This is the part of our nervous system that you need to be in to connect with others.

A breathing technique that I love to use to calm myself when I’m feeling anxious, stressed or overwhelmed, is the 4–7–8 technique. The longer the exhale, the greater the relaxation and calming effect on your nervous system. Just a couple rounds of breathing exercises, less than a couple minutes can instantly change your nervous system and it’s free! What an amazing tool to use for everyone!

Second practice is journaling. I truly believe that journaling is the greatest tool for self-awareness that you can use. Everything starts with self-awareness. You can’t change patterns or habits that are not working for you if you don’t have self-awareness. Journaling was the first self-care practice that I started doing on a consistent basis. It allowed me to get all of those negative thoughts and rumination out of my head and onto paper. It was a “brain dump,” for me. I feel such a relief and unburdening when I journal. Journaling helps you to see patterns that you might not have noticed before. An example of this for me was the awareness from journaling that talking to my teens after school was not a good time. It resulted in myself feeling upset because they didn’t want to talk at that time and through journaling, I realized that it was all about timing. In the evening when I was getting ready for bed, they were open to talking. So, from that awareness, I changed my pattern that wasn’t working. Recognizing my triggers from journaling was so powerful. I was able to see from journaling when I felt disrespected from my teens, it triggered me and I reacted.

I have changed my understanding, perspective, patterns and done the greatest inner work on myself, all from the self-awareness that I get from journaling. I started with no more than five minutes of journaling. The wonderful thing about journaling, is that, if staring at a blank sheet of paper is intimidating for you, you can get journals with prompts, questions, pictures and quotes to help you get started. You do not need to be a great writer to journal. Journaling is the ultimate tool for self reflection and self awareness.

Third practice is movement. Movement instantly changes your state of mind and energy levels. When I’m working from home and I’m working on a project, I set a timer for 25 minutes, I then get up and have a “mini movement,” break. I will stretch, go up and down the stairs, refill my water, and even do some squats. These are simple and easy ways to fit movement into your day. You’re not adding onto your never ending to-do list, you’re finding these little pockets of time throughout your day. When you’re out of your home some quick and simple ways to get movement in, are parking further away from the store, taking the stairs when you can, making sure if you have a job where you have to sit at a desk all day that you set a timer to remind yourself to get up and move.

When I’m sitting for too long and not moving my body, I feel stagnant, stiff and not motivated to get anything done, even my creativity feels dried up. These little “mini movement breaks,” help to re energize, refuel and change my state of mind instantly. Our bodies are meant to move and when we move our bodies, we feel better emotionally, mentally and physically and come back to our work or task that needs to get done, feeling more focused and energized for the day.

Fourth practice is connection. When people think of a self-care practice, they often don’t think of connection and I believe that connection is crucial and essential for your mental wellness. We have an epidemic of loneliness now which contributes to all mental health issues. Most of us intend to and want to spend more quality time with friends and loved ones but we get busy in our everyday lives and don’t prioritize it and then it doesn’t happen.

I schedule connections in my calendar to make sure it happens every week. I also think people can tell themselves that they don’t have an hour or a couple of hours to meet a friend but connection isn’t about the length of time. What I’ve found works for me to make sure that I’m connecting every week with friends or loved ones:

I will send a friend/loved one a text asking how they’re doing and what’s new with them.

Schedule a walk with a friend. I’m getting my movement and connection in.

Meet a friend for coffee or lunch.

Have a friend join you for an exercise class. I love combining two things at once such as movement and connection.

Try a new creative activity or hobby and invite a friend.

Pick up the phone and call your friend and talk for five minutes.

There are many ways to connect with a friend or loved one. It doesn’t have to be complicated or time consuming. I do think scheduling it helps. If you see it on your calendar, it’s a priority and more likely to happen.

The fifth practice is mindfulness. Mindfulness is the practice of maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, without judgment. It involves being fully present and engaged in the current moment, rather than dwelling on the past or worrying about the future.

I love this self-care practice because it’s so simple to fit into your busy day. I pick my daughter up from school every day. While I’m waiting in the car instead of spending that time on my phone, I will put my phone down for a few minutes, even one minute makes a difference for your mental wellness and I will notice my surroundings. What does the sky look like today, the trees, do I notice any birds, any interesting buildings around me. Just asking myself these simple questions and noticing my surroundings changes my thoughts and energy. I feel calm, curious and present. In the morning when I’m enjoying my cup of coffee, I will take a moment to truly savor and enjoy my coffee, the taste, the smell, the feel of my warm mug. I’m really trying to engage all of my senses to be present and grateful for my cup of coffee. I think starting your day by taking a minute or two to practice mindfulness can change your whole day. It’s empowering to take control of your day and spend a couple minutes being present and grateful.

First thing I do every morning when I wake up is sit up in my bed, put my hand on my heart and tell myself how grateful I’m to be alive, feel my beating heart and take a breath.

I believe that mindfulness is the key to feeling gratitude and presence in our everyday busy lives.

I love all of these self-care practices because they do not take a lot of time, you can fit them into your life no matter how busy your day is and they all make such a difference for your mental wellness and joy in life. No special equipment or level of expertise is required for any of these. Get started and be consistent. On days when I don’t do my self-care practices I notice and feel it.

By prioritizing your own mental wellness using these self-care practices, you’re able to show up as the person you want to be for yourself and everyone else that you care about in your life.

Can you please share a few of the main roadblocks that prevent people from making better self-care choices? What would you suggest can be done to overcome those roadblocks?

Some of the main roadblocks that I see preventing people from making better self-care choices are time, money and access.

For time, I believe that five minutes is all you need to get started with a daily consistent self-care practice that will make a huge difference in your life. I tell busy, overwhelmed and exhausted moms that you do have five minutes and spending that time can directly impact how the rest of the day goes for you. If you spend five minutes in the morning to take control of how you start your day by doing something that energizes, recharges, calms you or brings you joy, it feels empowering and it allows you to handle whatever comes your way that day much better.

A great example of how to get movement in during your day in five minutes or less is what I like to call “mini movement breaks.” This can be done by setting a timer for 25 or 50 minutes and getting up and moving once the timer goes off, stretching, walking or doing some squats. All of these are easy, fast and simple ways to get movement during the day. You can start parking further away from the store, take the stairs when you can, play with your dog, your kids, when you brush your teeth, practice your balancing, while waiting for the kettle to boil, do some squats or calf raises. All of these examples are simple, easy and quick ways to fit movement into your day.

There is a myth that a self-care practice will cost money. You do not have to spend money on a self-care practice. That’s why I love teaching and using tools, such as breathing exercises, journaling and movement. You have to breathe to live, so why not learn how to do it effectively to help calm your nervous system instantly. For journaling, all you need is a piece of paper and a pen or you can use a digital journal. I personally think there’s something magical about putting your pen to paper. If you haven’t tried journaling yet, try it using a pen and paper. You don’t need a fancy expensive gym membership to get the benefits for your emotional, mental and physical health from movement. You can work out at home, there are so many videos on different workouts for varying ages and fitness levels.

As far as access to self-care tools, breathing is accessible to us all, journaling requires a pen and paper and all you need for movement is your own body.

To set yourself up for an instant WIN, pick one of the self-care tools and practice consistently for five minutes every day and notice how you feel after one week.

In one sentence, what would you say to someone who doesn’t prioritize their mental well-being?

In order to show up as the mom and person you want to be for those that need your help, support and guidance, you need to prioritize your own mental well-being and be the role model for others.

Thank you for all that great insight! Let’s start wrapping up. Can you share your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Why does this quote resonate with you so much?

“If you fight for your limitations in life, you will get them every time.” I love this quote because it’s a powerful reminder to me of the fact that I’m responsible for my life and if I have big goals, I can either work towards them every day by taking action, despite feeling the fear or I can let the fear tell me I’m not good enough to do this and play it safe by staying in my comfort zone in life, where no growth happens. I want to constantly be challenging my limiting beliefs and focusing on what’s possible for me when I decide to take courageous daily action. Prioritizing my mental wellness allows me to do this!

We are very blessed that some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? They might just see this, especially if we both tag them :-)

I would be honored to have lunch with Mel Robbins. I admire all the free content that she puts out on her podcast. She offers so much advice and knowledge from a variety of world class experts on how to live your best life. Her content is all about taking responsibility for your own life, being a kind and decent person to everyone. From listening to her for years now, I value growth, learning and progress and I have more self-compassion for myself. I see failure as a necessary opportunity to get better and learn. I admire that she’s a mom to three kids and running a hugely successful business. I love that she prioritizes her family, relationships and her own mental wellness. She understands how important it is to be a role model for her kids and others. I want my kids to see that their mom is on the path of progress, learning and growth until the end. From her, I’ve learned, it’s never too late to work on your dreams and goals in life!

LAURIE MOSER

Laurie Moser is a Wellness Coach, who helps support moms of teens struggling with mental health challenges, respond with calm & confidence and create an unshakeable bond with their child, no matter what.

Laurie has been featured by Focus on the Family, Real Biz Moms, Authority Magazine, Tracking Happiness and a guest on 5 Minutes for Me App, Voice of Women (VOW), I Never Knew (INK), Sh!t That Goes On In Our Heads, The Teen Anxiety Maze, To Mom is To Love with Valerie Probstfeld, NP, Life Changing Habits Summit, Holistically Heal Your Child Summit and Host of the Tools for Moms With Teen Summit, Organized & Energized Summit and Parenting the Intensity Retreat.