Trista Sutter stepped into the limelight, and the hearts of Coloradans when, as reality TV’s first “Bachelorette,” she chose Vail firefighter Ryan Sutter. Their televised wedding on December 6, 2003 drew over 26 million viewers. Today, the couple lives in Vail with their son Max, nine, and daughter Blakesley, seven. Trista considers herself a stay-at-home-and-work mom, busy with a wide variety of projects including her book Happily Ever After: the Life-Changing Power of a Grateful Heart. For her, Me Time is something to never feel guilty about.
Trista’s Me Time:
Lately, I started working with It Works, a direct sales company and we have these facials. It’s this mask that you put on so I am now addicted to the facial. I have to have it on for 45 minutes to 1 hour so I put my kids to bed and it’s like a little pamper time. For moms especially, we give so much, I think it’s so, so, so important to give back to yourself because you cannot give to anyone else unless your bucket is full. You need to fill it with whatever makes you feel good.
How do you carve out Me Time?
I’m a big proponent of time management and organization and I live by priorities. If my kid is sick and needs me to pick him up from school, that’s number one on the list. If Ryan’s having a bad day and I need to take a walk with him, then I move that to the top of the list. As long as you have your priorities set and you manage your time wisely to be able to make those priorities feel that they are priorities, then that is so important.
What’s the best advice you were ever given?
When I was a relatively new mom, Ryan and I went to a Brad Paisley concert and we were backstage with him. He and his wife had just had a baby around the same time so we started talking about our kids. I told him we were in a really bad period when Max was not sleeping at all. He told us he”d just finished with a sleep specialist and said, “You have to try the cry-it-out method.” We did that right after and now my kids are great sleepers. You know, God love everyone for whatever they do that’s right for them, but for us it was such a powerful piece of advice because it literally changed the trajectory of my kids” sleep habits.
What is your Mom Must-Have?
My phone. Not just because I have a business and I need to be able to connect with people. It’s because of my camera. My memories are my pictures. I feel like it’s all about being connected and recording the important parts of my life, especially when it comes to my kids.
