If you haven’t yet subscribed to my Substack, it’s where I get a little more personal—writing from the heart about self-care, motherhood, wellness, and all things in between. My community loved this post there, so I wanted to share an excerpt with you here.

None of us wakes up planning to spend more time on our phones than we want to. It just sort of… happens. A quick check turns into a 20-minute scroll, and suddenly it’s 2 pm, and you’re not sure where the morning went. We’ve all been there—which is why I want to say upfront: this is not another article meant to make you feel guilty about your screen time.

Here’s the thing—no matter how much intention I bring to my phone use, I still have days where I’m on it way more than I’d planned. It comes up all the time in conversations with my friends, and it most definitely comes up in any conversation about raising kids in 2026.

Just when I think I’ve got it figured out, I can slip right back into habits that keep me from the present, free, and full life I actually want to be living.

Case in point: a couple of weekends ago, Austin was hit by an ice storm, and we found ourselves with four full days at home without anywhere to be. In my mind, I had this vision of a cozy, dreamy weekend—playing games, doing art projects with the kids, cleaning out closets (just me?), baking cookies, and family movie nights. And while many of those things did happen, there was also a whole lot of refreshing my Slack notifications and scrolling through Instagram.

I could feel my nervous system getting louder—the kind of wired-but-tired feeling that sneaks up on you when you’re consuming more than you’re processing.

The fact that it coincided with an incredibly tumultuous time in the world didn’t help. I let myself read way too many comment threads of people fighting about politics, hurling insults, watching incredibly disturbing videos of what was happening in Minnesota. By Monday night, I could feel it in my body—distracted, anxious, snapping at Adam and the kids over things that normally wouldn’t phase me.

Unlock the full post here to read about the boundaries that protect the parts of life that matter most to me. When I do these, I feel more aligned, less stressed, and like I have more hours in the day.