When the days of mom stress are long and full, you need some ways to reduce stress. Ways to handle that mommy stress that is stealing your joy and keeping you from being the mom you want to be each day.
Mommy Stress is that overwhelmed feeling you get when everything around you is crazy.
Every mom feels it at every stage of motherhood.
From getting babies to nap on a schedule to figuring out what is causing a baby to cry to teaching toddlers the word “No” to helping kids with schoolwork to running kids around as they go from one activity to another… Then, teaching them to drive, choosing colleges, watching them interview for jobs, making huge purchases for cars and houses… dating, school pressures… every stage of motherhood includes some amount of stress.
I have friends at all ages of the spectrum.
My friends with babies and toddlers feel stress.
My friends with school age kids feel stress.
My friends with high schoolers feel stress.
My friends with adult kids feel stress!
My friends with kids in school feel stress and my friends who homeschool feel stress.
For sure, my boarding mom friends feel the stress.
We all feel it. It might all be very different but we all. feel. stress.
The pressure of mothering.
There are days I wish that I could blindfold myself from the world and escape away…
There are days that just doing the laundry is a huge task and grocery shopping feels like the biggest job on earth.
Sometimes the thought of bedtime is exhausting and the idea of bath night makes me want to put the kids to bed dirty.
I’m feeling this mommy stress often just due to the fact that our lives are so crazy right now and I’m mothering through constant moving and transition.
I know we all have things we do to cope with mom stress but I thought I’d put together my list here for you… get ready to add to the list at the end!
Ways To Reduce Stress:
1} Time alone with God. Nothing works as well as that. Whether it is getting to church for a small Bible study or scheduling a prayer night with other moms or just turning on some worship music… you will feel amazingly refreshed after just a short time in His presence. I promise.
2} Coffee, tea, hot chocolate. take 5 minutes to sit down and enjoy your favorite treat. Always helps. Feel free to add M&Ms or ice cream.
3} Call another mom in the same season of motherhood as you. No one understands like someone going through it with you. Call them. Have them share what is crazy about their life. It will help.
4} Call another mom who is one season ahead of you. Ask them questions. Tell them what you are going through. They will not only understand but will have advice because they’ve been there and made it through.
5} Let the house be a mess. This one is REALLY hard for me. I have a hard time resting and relaxing if things are not picked up and the house is a mess. Sometimes, I have to be ok with jobs unfinished and teach myself to relax in the midst of chaos.
6} Go for a drive. This is SO nice. Put the kids in car seats, start a movie if you have that capability in your vehicle, drive through for a vanilla coke at Sonic and drive away through the country or on a side road or anywhere really… Totally worth the 3 or 4 dollars in gas!
7} Read a book. Not a study book or a self help book or a learning book or anything that will make you feel pressure to change or do something different. Just escape your day and travel to wherever your book takes you. Enjoy a story, get immersed in something you have no responsibility to fix, clean or repair and let yourself relax. Here are a few of my favorites.
8} Journal. Draw. Write. Color. There are moments I have to just grab my laptop and write. Whether it is a post I never publish or a blank word document that I fill with thoughts or a journal page where I write scripture… this helps calm my nerves and put words to the stress around me.
9} Get out of the house. Go to the mall. Visit a friend. Sit at the park. My home can be the most restful place and the most stressful place all at the same time. Sometimes I just need to leave the to do lists and the laundry piles and the messy bathroom and see something of the world around me. I come back home refreshed and ready to tackle my house.
10} Get a babysitter. Spend time with your spouse. Feel like an adult. Here are 20 Dates Ideas You BOTH will Love!
11} Remember that your kids are growing up and your season with them is actually very short.
12} Don’t try so hard. The world does NOT rest on your shoulders. The world will go on if you make a mistake. God can handle our stress and He will help us through it all.
13} Working out! Getting some exercise, going for a walk or run, pushing the kids in the stroller, hiking through the woods, going for a bike ride… all GREAT ways to de-stress!
14} Get healthy! Check out my post on Practical Tips for Loosing Weight and feeling so much better!
15} Encourage Yourself and Get Joy! Don’t feel guilty taking care of YOU.
What can you add to the list?
This comment isn’t really adding to the list. It’s more of a cry for help! I feel more overwhelmed with motherhood than I have any other time in my life. I have two daughters that are 15.5 and the other is almost 6. Then my son is 3. All summer I feel like no matter how many things I do, schedule , play, all my 3 and almost 6 year old do is fight! Both of them are strong willed and stubborn.
My oldest stays busy but I feel like I never get a break from constant chaos. Home is not a peaceful place right now. I have tried every style of parenting under the sun, and nothing is catching on. I don’t even feel like myself anymore. I read all these books and blogs telling mothers how we should treat our children a certain way and let them discover who they are, but hitting and destroying all the toys in a room is not a personality trait I feel needs to be discovered! I do my best to help my kids with self control but they also don’t seem to respond to consequences either.
I just feel like maybe my kids are just gonna do what they’re doing regardless of what kind of role model I put forth. Motherhood was never this hard with my first born. I’m just not sure what I can do at this point to lower the level of chaos with my children right now. My son is too much of a handle full for a sitter. I simply don’t know how to get the two of them to get along better and also respect me enough to listen when I ask them to do something. Help!
Sincerely,
Exhausted Mommy
navigating online parenting advice can be really hard. I wrote a post about that here: http://www.w2wministries.org/2014/01/how-to-navigate-online-advice.html
I totally understand. There are days we all feel that way! Not one of us has it all together… we really have to seek God and ask for his wisdom and help. Being a mom is not an easy job and although I don’t have the answers to make it all work out. But I do know that prayer for you and for your kids is your best tool at combating strife at home.
Open conversation during times when things aren’t going crazy can be helpful too. Don’t wait for the chaos to parent the situation. That has been very helpful for us!
I am praying for you and your family!
Your post is realistic, spiritual, fun, and useful. For me, I love relaxing with a mystery book.
Thanks for creating these great ideas.
books are my favorite way too!
Love this post, really practical ideas, simple, manageable and so worthwhile. Thank you for sharing.
I’m so glad that it was a help to you!! Thanks for stopping by!
Thank you! Great inspiration that i needed in my life right now. Its always good to hear other mothers need some quiet time too. Exercise has always been #1 the past 4 years but i know that i have lost focus of who is really and that is God. Great job!
Wow thanks for sharing this Jenilee! I love how real you are and these steps make it seem do-able 🙂
Mmmmm…. a cup of tea, and my Bible….. Sounds good to me.
Isn’t that a perfect way to spend some time destressing? love it!
Definitely time alone with God reading my bible, plus reading Christian inspirational fiction is my stress release. You also list a lot of other great ways to help relax. 🙂