Mom Needs a Break

Being a mom can be overwhelming, even on a good day, and many moms feel a lot of stress. So, what can mom do to bust stress? Eliminate it? The answer can sometimes be as simple as taking a break. However, let’ take a look at the little things you can do to be ready for stress so you do not need to take too many breaks in any given day:

1. Know your stressful times and prepare for them
Face it, stress can be somewhat chronic. If you know that at a certain point every day you feel stressed, like maybe when you are trying to put your children to bed, or when you are trying to get lunch on the table in between soccer and nap times. The fact is that if you prepare yourself for those key moments during the day when you feel chronically stressed, and you know that they too will pass, you will be able to manage that stress better. You have to visualize yourself past the moment, and let it go.

2. Use your drive time
Sometimes mom really just needs a break from the stress, and guess what, a great way to take a break without getting behind in all the zillion things you need to do is make drive time your time. It is amazing what a car DVD player and a couple of your favorite CDs can do for your stress management. Get your kids occupied with food, a movie, or something else, then enjoy the time that you are driving as a time of relaxation. When you get to a red light, do not try and sort your wallet, or balance your checkbook, or make that call, instead, do some relaxation exercises. Roll your head and neck, breathe deep, find a great song that lets you relax and rock out to it. This is a simple way to take a break without getting behind.

3. Take three
You know when your child is behaving poorly, and you count to three to give them a chance to consider their choices and amend them? Well, you can use the magic of three on yourself too. Next time you feel the weight of stress taking over, slowly count to three, and while you do that breathe in slowly through your nose, and out your lips. This can be very cleansing, and give you just enough break to get things back together mentally and emotionally.

4. Turn off the noise
If you feel like stress is going to overtake you, then take a minute of quiet time. Your children probably talk your ear off, ask you for things all day, then there is the television, the radio, the endless noise that runs our lives, so take a couple minutes of noiseless nirvana every day, and watch the stress melt off.

5. Speak slowly
Did you know that if you are in a stressful situation one of the things you can do is slow down your speech? This will help you to prevent stressful reactions. Stressed people tend to speak fast and breathlessly, so slow down your speech and you will feel less stressed.

6. Laughter is the best medicine
If you want to keep stress at bay, then laugh as often as possible. Laughing is like a mental break from the stress of being a busy mom. So give yourself that break, and laugh often and well.

When you are a busy mom, take the time to laugh, laugh, laugh, and stress will fade.

Being a busy mom can take its toll. So, be sure that as a mom you treat yourself right too, give yourself the break you need on occasion, even if it means getting a baby sitter for no reason other than you want to take a nap in the middle of the day without an interruption.