Guest Post: A Day In Courtney’s Life

Meet our next Day In The Life guest writer, Courtney! She a wife, mum, and psychologist, living in Brisbane, Australia. So cool, right?

A Little About Courtney

Hi! My name is Courtney and I live in Brisbane, Australia!

I have been a reader of Christina’s blog for awhile now and I love reading day in the life posts, so I jumped at the chance to be a guest poster!

I am a Mum to a 4 (almost 5!) year old daughter called Amelie. I love online shopping, coffee (what’s your standard coffee order?), working out and reading!  My husband is a deputy principal and we have been married for 9 years this year and we also have a 3 year old cavoodle, Henri and that is my little family!

We are currently in the midst of winter over here, so the exact opposite to most of you guys! Our weather is similar to Florida so mild winters and HOT summers! Think humidity and high temps! 

I am a psychologist and work primarily with adolescents in a high school setting and also see adults (mostly women and my personal favourite clients are fellow mums!) in my private practice. I am in the middle of getting my side hustle up and running so any spare minutes are spent creating content and polishing off my website, etc. 

This is an online program aimed at helping women in the midst of motherhood to find themselves again. Anyone else feel a little lost in the throes of motherhood and sometimes don’t recognise themselves? I feel as if it such a common struggle for so many of us once we become a mother whether it be the first, second or third or plus time! Something that needs to be talked about more! I welcome and enjoy real and authentic conversations!

Anyway I digress…

A Day in Courtney’s Life

A typical day for me, I selected a workday (I work 4 days a week) and will try to be as detailed as possible!

Wake up – 4.30am

I know early, right?!! I like to wake up early before my daughter gets up, and before the get-ready rush begins, and get some movement in as I typically don’t move much during the day. Being a therapist usually involves a lot of sitting throughout the day. So I spend roughly an hour on the treadmill doing a walk and watching a show (anyone got any good binge worthy recommendations, I just finished Heartland which had 10 seasons so I am on the hunt for something!)

5.30-6.45am

Rushing around, preparing breakfast for my daughter, getting my lunch ready and packed, getting her dressed and ready for daycare along with doing my makeup/hair and getting dressed for work. 

6.45-7.15am

In the car (Finally! Usually after some sort of fight to get socks or shoes on!), then stop for my coffee and drop Amelie off at daycare. She goes to daycare 4 days a week (she is doing the kindergarten program) from 7-5; our drop offs usually take awhile as we have a routine we go through (my heart will miss this when she’s older) to say goodbye.

7.15-7.45am

Drive time to work, I only live about 13 minutes from my work (school job) but it can take upward of 30 mins in peak traffic to get there.

8-11am

Check emails, attend meetings (if scheduled) and then see students as needed or as scheduled. I typically eat breakfast in my office around 9 am (overnight egg white oats with almond butter, protein powder and chia seeds).

11am

Morning tea break so I usually have something to eat here, something easy like tuna and avocado on toast.

11.30-2pm

Same as above. Most school days follow the same format however things crop up unexpectedly and you just learn to roll with it! Schools can be unpredictable and BUSY! 

2pm-3pm

I usually leave the last hour for paperwork and lunch. Today, lunch was 2 soft boiled eggs, a toasted english muffin and avocado along with a protein yoghurt with almond butter.

3.15pm

Usually done for the day but today I hang around for a bit and get changed into my gym clothes as I am doing a Fitstop class today. Fitstop (I think is Australian) is like F45 or Burn Bootcamp. 

During this time, I think of ideas on which to create reels etc for my business insta page and work on the backend of my website. Any time I can find I do something, even if it’s just a small amount! I leave the bigger chunks of time to Friday or the weekends when I can have a more solid block of 1-2 hours to spend on this.

4.15-5pm

Fitstop class, HIIT today man that was hard but good! Whether I do a class or go to the gym and do my own weight workout, I like to fit something in 3-4 days a week and knowing I don’t have to get Amelie until 5pm helps. 

Yes, I sometimes feel guilty but I also know this keeps me sane and is good for me especially if work has been hard or exhausting! Right now my gym routine is 1-2 FItstop classes a week (usually the HIIT/cardio ones) and then I follow a weights program the other 2-3 days. I have also signed up for a 5km fun run in September so have started doing one run (aka a slow jog! I am not a runner!) once a week. 

Pre-kids I used to exercise 7 days a week so this is way more balanced, my body doesn’t hurt as much and I have a much better relationship with food and exercise these days!

5.30pm

Grab Amelie from daycare and rush home to do dinner, bath and bedtime routine!

6pm

Eat dinner. Dinner for us most nights looks similar, a protein, carb and vegetables. Feeding kids is hard isn’t it??! Tonight for me was a marinated chicken breast, avocado and salad and she had pesto pasta, a sausage, capsicum and green beans.

6.45pm

Bath time is done, books are read and someone is in bed! Yay!!

7-8.30pm

We usually watch a show on the nights I don’t have clients (currently we are watching the latest season of Outlander) and I will have my nightly chocolate and then get into bed and read our respective books. I am in the middle of Kristin Hannah’s The Women and just want to devour it.

I do my skincare routine before bed too so lately this has been hyralouronic acid after my shower, followed by Skin Reedle 100 most nights followed by a serum and LED face massager straight after and then the Laneige Water Sleep Mask as the final step.

8.30pm

Lights out to start all over again tomorrow. We both go to bed at roughly the same time as we both get up early to exercise.

In complete transparency, I do 95% of the logistics around our child, my husband picks her up one day a week and I do the rest. I also fit in the grocery shopping and her activities on my day off. It gets to be a lot. We have a cleaner that comes once a fortnight to do the floors and bathrooms which does help. Luckily my husband does help around the house (although it is still a man clean haha) and we are good at ensuring we both still get to pursue our own interests etc. Fitness is important to both of us.

How do we fit in couple time? Haha good question and that is a work in progress. Being a family of 3 (and our dog) we usually just do things with all of us but we need to be better at prioritising couple time. We need to be better at booking a sitter and doing something, just us. We also like travelling so a fair chunk of our savings goes towards that. We have a New York/Disney World trip booked for end of 2025 (Disney tips anyone???) so are busy working towards that. 

My business page is @nourished_psychology and my website is Nourished Psychology – come say hi! I would love to chat and hear from you! My new course is ready to go too and that is called Nourishing You – helping You find YOU again! Feel free to share with any mothers out there that are feeling lost and not themselves in the motherhood journey.

Thanks for reading!

Courtney Xx