Hey there digital mommy! I'm Becky. Being a stay at home mom or working mom can can make you feel like you can't do motherhood anymore. Why is motherhood so stressful? Let's be real, we all feel like motherhood is driving us crazy sometimes. I am a mother of two myself and to avoid becoming a toxic unhappy mom I came up with 7 hacks to teach myself how to enjoy being a mom again when I fall victim to the overwhelmed mother syndrome. Are feeling stressed out or unproductive as a mom? Wondering how to cope with parenting stress? Just know, YOU are NOT alone in this journey.
PICTURE THIS: I wake up to my 1 year old son screaming at 3 AM, I jumped up to make him a bottle to quiet him down. While I'm in the kitchen, my 3 year old comes walking into the room and announces she wants to watch her phone. I calmly tell her it's to early and to go back to bed. By, the time I get Ethan his bottle and back to sleep, I find my daughter watching her phone. I know if I take it away it will be War World 3 in my house, but if she stays awake it will be a very long tiring day. Naturally, taking the phone away lead to her screaming and crying resulting in the entire house being awake at 3 AM. At this moment I realized 3 things:
I was stressed
I was tired
I was not coping with motherhood in the right manner
But, Mostly, I hated the mom I was at that moment. This took mom guilt to a whole new level.
Thousands of moms, dads, and even grandparents struggle with "mom stress." So the question remains, how do you handle the anxiety of constant needs from your children, husband, and everyday life? How do you juggle work, home, and kids without pulling out your hair?
HOW DO PARENTS RELAX?
MAKE A SCHEDULE AND STICK TO IT
What happens is the more routine something becomes the easier it is for your brain to do it on autopilot and it becomes less and less stressful. By making a daily schedule and doing that same thing over and over tells your brain to start doing it automatically resulting in less stress.
TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF:
Another super important thing that you need to know about handling motherhood stress in general is that you want to make sure that you take time every single day to do some kind of yoga or some kind of meditation or just talking with God. If you de-stress yourself both mentally and physically you will have a much better day in general, because your mind and your body are both able to relax. This is why every morning I start off my day,I do my bible study while I drink my coffee, along with some morning affirmations. These are videos and readings that get you in the right state of mind so your are mentally relaxed.
MAKE TIME TO LAUGH
Alright so one that a lot of people don't think about is the whole laughing aspect, because if you are laughing you are so free of stress in general that you are having an amazing time. So, I recommend finding a funny book to read, or even just finding a funny movie to watch. Try calling up your best friend and saying "Hey i need a good laugh."
EXERCISE
Another tip that i have for you today is to make sure that you are finding time to exercise. If you are exercising you are feeling a lot less stressed out. Find a time to do some kind of exercise every day and you will feel so much less stressed and a lot healthier. Put your kids in the stroller and go for a run or get up early and find a video on YouTube. There's a ton of videos that are for mommies and super short that give you a little bit of time to exercise. Maybe, if you find time to wake up just a little bit earlier than your children's and fit that exercise video in you will better manage your mommy stress.
UNPLUG
Make sure that you are finding time for yourself to unplug: take a hot bath, light some candles, and relax. Try reading a good book have a glass of wine. Know it's okay to have time for you. This is super, super important and it will really help you feel a lot less stressed at the end of the day.
HAVE A PLACE FOR EVERYTHING
Make sure that you have a place for everything and everything in its place and it will actually help your mind to not have to think about where things belong. It will be so much easier for you just to find things.
ACCOMPLISH THE SIMPLE THINGS
Find something to make help yourself feel accomplished every single day. For example, personally what i do is i make sure that i get my children get dressed every single day and I make my bed. This is so simple, and this just helps me feel accomplished. You will be less stressed out because you did something.
I believe that you CAN control your own life. You make it what you want it to be. You determine your own future and your kids future. You can and will make an amazing life for you and your children.
Are you with me?
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