{"id":316852,"date":"2024-10-15T10:10:03","date_gmt":"2024-10-15T14:10:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?post_type=article&p=316852"},"modified":"2024-11-25T10:25:37","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T15:25:37","slug":"self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"\"<\/p>\n

Jen Jabaily-Blackburn Contributing writer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


\nThis story begins in Horseytown. Or, rather, <\/span>on <\/span><\/em>Horseytown, the road-map rug in my daughter\u2019s room, named by the town\u2019s intrepid founder.<\/span><\/p>\n

Part of being a parent is recognizing which wish-fulfillment impulses won\u2019t harm your children. Am I going to push my child who loves to sing toward the performing arts to compensate for my unfulfilled dreams of a life on the stage? Uh, no. Am I going to get her the road-map rug I always wanted but never had? Hell yes. <\/span><\/p>\n

I chose one for her that felt calm and green. Horseytown is a little town \u2014 \u201990s-child high five if your next impulse is to sing \u201cit\u2019s a quiet village\u201d \u2014 apple-treed, pavement-laced with only a few cars and trucks, a few buildings, a peaceful, unpopulated soccer field its centerpiece. <\/span><\/p>\n

Where are the horses?<\/span><\/em> one might ask. Simple. We are the horses. Or, no, horse <\/span>princesses<\/span><\/em>, my daughter insists. Neighing, galloping horse princesses. So much for calm.<\/span><\/p>\n

And, so, we were playing horse princess when <\/span>the thing<\/span><\/em> happened, inciting incident of so many self-care narratives: my daughter bounced her baby carrot of a fingerlet into my abdomen, saying, \u201cYour tummy is squishy.\u201d She said it neutrally, factually, because for her there is no other way to say it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Except this isn\u2019t a story about my body, not primarily. My big body \u2014 big before pregnancy, big after \u2014 is a fact, not a failure of willpower. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

But even knowing what I need doesn\u2019t make getting it easy.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

So much postpartum self-care urges us to claim time for ourselves \u2014 and it\u2019s usually implied that that time should be used for \u201cbouncing back,\u201d for reclaiming the bodies we had before we had children, as though that\u2019s entirely possible. <\/p>\n

Time, in relation to the postpartum body, we\u2019re told, is merely misallocated. What tasks can be reassigned or let go? Do you have a free hour? That\u2019s an hour that could be spent in the gym. Everywhere the words <\/span>what\u2019s your excuse<\/span><\/em>?<\/span><\/p>\n

My excuse: there are only so many hours in a day, and so few of them belong only<\/em> to me. With limited time and energy available, I can prioritize my body or my mind. I choose and have always chosen my mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

I need time alone. The most important tools I have for understanding the world are headspace, quiet, and time. Intellectually, I knew that taking care of another person would mean I\u2019d have less of these resources, but I had no idea how much less. A poet, I barely wrote. A reader, I rarely read. And reading and writing weren\u2019t luxuries. They were necessities. <\/span><\/p>\n

But even knowing what I need doesn\u2019t make getting it easy. <\/p>\n

When you have a young child, making space for thought feels like an elaborate side hustle. It pays in quiet and can\u2019t be observed easily by others. Losing baby weight is often an obvious marker for how many others approach self-care, an occasion for an awkward high five. Feeling like I might have figured out how to approach a poem I\u2019ve been stuck on doesn\u2019t necessarily translate to anyone else. Very few people want to high five me for that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I wish I could say that I am diligent about asking for space and time, or that I use the time well when I have the windfall of a miraculously free hour. Sometimes I\u2019m just too tired to do anything but play puzzle games on the phone when I know I <\/span>could<\/span><\/em> be writing or reading but I need time to just exist. Sometimes I don\u2019t know how to ask for what I need because the asking feels almost petty when put in words: Can I go read at the cafe where no one\u2019s crying? Would it be ok if I went to the museum for an hour? Can I go walk the trail by the river? <\/span>Alone<\/span><\/em>? Sometimes I need to muster courage to ask my husband if I can take a break from being on parent duty <\/span>because<\/span><\/em> I know he understands; the last holdout in giving me permission to relax is always, without fail, me.<\/span><\/p>\n

While I\u2019m at work and my horse princess is at daycare, sometimes I am able to carve out that sort of time, find a bit of that needed space.<\/span><\/p>\n

One of the great joys of my job on a college campus is knowing that I have a small, beautiful art museum visible from my office window, a greenhouse behind my building, a quiet poetry reading room right down the hall. There\u2019s a footpath by the Mill River that I can walk along after lunch. (There is, of course, a huge amount of luck and privilege that allows me to access spaces like these: I have a full hour at lunchtime to enjoy them, no one has ever made me feel unwelcome or misplaced in them, and I can access them on the cheap or for free.) Public libraries and parks are full of spaces to decompress and dream too. Even if museums charge entry to galleries, many have quiet free courtyards and atriums open to the public. <\/span><\/p>\n

And my favorite recently rediscovered time-hack: my dad used to get us amped up for going to the carwash by saying, semi-ironically, \u201ckids, we\u2019re going on vacation!\u201d I get it now; for five glorious minutes, the conveyor belt and the soapbots would handle everything. Vacation, indeed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Finding that sort of time and space at home is another story.<\/p>\n

In theory, I have a dedicated writing room, but it comes with a couple of glaring catches: currently, it\u2019s full of boxes containing the whole of my childhood, the survivors of my parents\u2019 move from my girlhood home \u2014 photos, letters, warping plastic tchotchkes, stickers, terrifyingly and yet, irresistibly, an envelope labeled \u201cbaby teeth\u201d \u2014 there\u2019s no comfortable place for me to sit, and the room has no door. <\/span><\/p>\n

Even if there was a door to close, I have a three-year-old. I can\u2019t exactly throw her a Baby-Sitters Club and tell her to knock herself out. <\/span><\/p>\n

My conditions for writing are not ideal, in or out of the house. So most of my poetry these days is written in the cloud, a browser window open while I work to catch ideas, an app on my phone in a caf\u00e9 at lunchtime. The phone\u2019s portable and less fragile than a laptop, and it\u2019s always with me. And here\u2019s how I find time and space to write at home \u2014 and, in fact, how I am writing this right now: screen time. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not ideal. It\u2019s usually a compromise. It\u2019s often a hustle.<\/h4>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I\u2019d love to give my child the freedom to play independently away from the screen, but we\u2019re still at the age of crayon on walls and all manner of spills, which I might be able to accept as the price of exploration \u2014 it\u2019s also the age of chokeables and outlets and dread of accidentally open stairs. I don\u2019t have the time or inclination to feel shamed by using the TV as a distraction. She engages and asks me questions about what she sees and I try to answer them and then get back to work. I\u2019m not fully here nor there, and that\u2019s how it has to be right now. I\u2019m in the cloud. <\/span><\/p>\n

So much of finding what we need postpartum is like this. It\u2019s not ideal. It\u2019s usually a compromise. It\u2019s often a hustle. And it\u2019s always complicated, like so many other parts of being a parent.<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes I wonder if my child\u2019s boisterous extroversion is a phase, or if it\u2019s just <\/span>her <\/span><\/em>\u2014 I can try to teach her calm, but I can\u2019t make her approach the world in a way that I recognize. My wild toddler may turn out to be an extroverted child and adult. She can take an 8\u2019 x 5\u2019 rectangle of carpeting and populate it with Horseytown\u2019s commotion and noise. When I am with her, I am a guest of the horse princess and, so, I neigh along. I hope she will understand one day that I can stand in the same imaginary village and need to find peace there: the soccer field with no one on it, red truck going nowhere fast, an apple tree unbothered by wind.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\n
About the author<\/h5>\n

Jen Jabaily-Blackburn has been making unconventional lullaby choices since winter 2015. A poet, her work has twice been selected for <\/span>Best New Poets<\/span><\/em> (2014 & 2016) and has appeared widely in journals and magazines, most recently <\/span>Rattle<\/span><\/em>, <\/span>The Common<\/span><\/em> and <\/span>Massachusetts Review<\/span><\/em>. She lives in the Pioneer Valley of Western Massachusetts with her husband and daughter.<\/span>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What does self-care really mean? It can be different things to different people, for starters. One mom explores how she’s coming to understand what it might mean for her – and what she might really need postpartum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":236948,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ovia_author_name":"Jen Jabaily-Blackburn","ovia_author_prefix":"Contributing writer","ovia_author_image":"https:\/\/ovia-assets.s3.amazonaws.com\/content_platform\/30345\/article_108390_headshot_Jen-Jabaily-Blackburn.jpg","ovia_content_type_id":"176","ovia_product_mode":"2","ovia_days_from_signup":"","ovia_days_from_lmp":"","ovia_days_from_baby_birth":"","ovia_days_from_enroll":"","ovia_health_module_days_from":"","ovia_article_for_email_days_from":"","ovia_health_module":"","ovia_legacy_id2":"","ovia_ttc":"","ovia_article_subtype":"","ovia_health_symptom":"","ovia_partner_id":"","ovia_partner_custom_group":"","ovia_legacy_category":"","ovia_legacy_category2":"","ovia_content_url_id":"316852","ovia_include_share_buttons":"","ovia_fertility_goal":"4","ovia_secondary_module":"","ovia_trimester":"","ovia_child_age":"","ovia_share_image":"","ovia_more_menu_image":"","ovia_button1_url":"","ovia_days_from_postpartum":"222","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"fert-category":[19926],"preg-category":[],"parent-category":[],"fert-tag":[],"preg-tag":[],"parent-tag":[],"class_list":["post-316852","article","type-article","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","fert-category-ovia-pp-mental-health"],"yoast_head":"\nSelf-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0 - Ovia Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"One mom explores how she's coming to understand what self-care might mean for her - and what she might really need postpartum.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0 - Ovia Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"One mom explores how she's coming to understand what self-care might mean for her - and what she might really need postpartum.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ovia Health\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-25T15:25:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"640\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"427\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@OviaHealth\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Andy Blackett\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8c721537be822da1035b279dc4e8fdd8\"},\"headline\":\"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-15T14:10:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-25T15:25:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\"},\"wordCount\":1507,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\",\"name\":\"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0 - Ovia Health\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-10-15T14:10:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-25T15:25:37+00:00\",\"description\":\"One mom explores how she's coming to understand what self-care might mean for her - and what she might really need postpartum.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg\",\"width\":640,\"height\":427,\"caption\":\"Shapecharge\/E+ via Getty Images\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Articles\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"description\":\"Digital health personalized for every family journey\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Ovia Health\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png\",\"width\":507,\"height\":112,\"caption\":\"Ovia Health\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8c721537be822da1035b279dc4e8fdd8\",\"name\":\"Andy Blackett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70782bd6117bf60ae6fdb28441f967d9f9f384c8909b98cc61310e0294967597?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70782bd6117bf60ae6fdb28441f967d9f9f384c8909b98cc61310e0294967597?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Andy Blackett\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0 - Ovia Health","description":"One mom explores how she's coming to understand what self-care might mean for her - and what she might really need postpartum.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0 - Ovia Health","og_description":"One mom explores how she's coming to understand what self-care might mean for her - and what she might really need postpartum.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/","og_site_name":"Ovia Health","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","article_modified_time":"2024-11-25T15:25:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":640,"height":427,"url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@OviaHealth","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"8 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/"},"author":{"name":"Andy Blackett","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8c721537be822da1035b279dc4e8fdd8"},"headline":"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0","datePublished":"2024-10-15T14:10:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-25T15:25:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/"},"wordCount":1507,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg","inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/","name":"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0 - Ovia Health","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg","datePublished":"2024-10-15T14:10:03+00:00","dateModified":"2024-11-25T15:25:37+00:00","description":"One mom explores how she's coming to understand what self-care might mean for her - and what she might really need postpartum.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/article_110138.jpg","width":640,"height":427,"caption":"Shapecharge\/E+ via Getty Images"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/316852\/self-care-for-the-introverted-needing-peace-and-quiet-space-and-time-alone-as-a-parent-2\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Articles","item":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/guide\/%post_id%\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Self-care for the introverted: Needing peace and quiet, space and time (alone) as a parent\u00a0"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","name":"Ovia Health","description":"Digital health personalized for every family journey","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#organization","name":"Ovia Health","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/ovia-health.png","width":507,"height":112,"caption":"Ovia Health"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/x.com\/OviaHealth","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/ovia-health","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/oviahealth","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/channel\/UCMoD1d6OFnq8WupiRZrUO3Q"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/8c721537be822da1035b279dc4e8fdd8","name":"Andy Blackett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70782bd6117bf60ae6fdb28441f967d9f9f384c8909b98cc61310e0294967597?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70782bd6117bf60ae6fdb28441f967d9f9f384c8909b98cc61310e0294967597?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Andy Blackett"}}]}},"lang":"en","translations":{"en":316852,"es":320120},"pll_sync_post":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/316852","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/316852\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":320121,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/316852\/revisions\/320121"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/236948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316852"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"fert-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-category?post=316852"},{"taxonomy":"preg-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-category?post=316852"},{"taxonomy":"parent-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-category?post=316852"},{"taxonomy":"fert-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/fert-tag?post=316852"},{"taxonomy":"preg-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/preg-tag?post=316852"},{"taxonomy":"parent-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oviahealth.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/parent-tag?post=316852"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}