You spend your days tirelessly working and taking care of everyone around you. The laundry piles up, dinner has to be made, and then comes the pages of spirit week tasks your kids will need for next week. You are tired and overwhelmed and you just feel stuck in this never ending cycle while all you want is just time to breathe. Can you relate to this? I know I can! In this post I am going to teach you what I do to prevent the mommy burnout and feel refreshed so I can show up as my best. Of course not every day will be perfect but these simple things really help out and I’m really excited to be able to share them with all of you!
Our school year is coming to an end and we just found out that the last two weeks of my kids school will be “spirit weeks”. Now I know that is super exciting for my kids and don’t get me wrong I absolutely love that they are doing all these fun tasks but when you’re already an overwhelmed and tired mom this seems like just another task to add to the to do list and sometimes holding back my own frustration is hard!
Taking Deep Breaths
Now, before you just skip over this section because you feel like you’ve heard it a million times, continue reading and let me tell you about it and how I make this work! Taking deep breaths is such a great tool but if you don’t have a plan to catch yourself starting to feel overwhelmed or frustrated then this will do nothing!
So for this strategy to work you need to start finding what is triggering that sudden feeling of being frustrated and overwhelmed and take your deep breaths before it. One thing I do is right before I go through my kids homework folders I pause and take a few deep breaths. Most of the time there is nothing in there to make me feel frustrated but those times that there are I am already ready to handle it without letting my kids see me be frustrated that they have to wear neon clothes on Monday and bring in their favorite book and a flashlight! I may still not be thrilled but it helps me manage my reaction a whole lot better!
Gratitude Journal
If you’ve been around here for a while you know this is one of my go to tips for pretty much everything! A gratitude journal is so important because we often lose sight of the little moments or things that we should be extremely thankful for. This doesn’t mean you aren’t grateful or that you are doing anything wrong, it’s just really easy to get wrapped up in life and being busy and not stopping to appreciate the little things!
Because of that, having a gratitude journal is extra important to help prevent mommy burnout. Feeling overwhelmed is going to happen and so is being frustrated with your ever growing to do list BUT we can help counteract some of those feelings by pausing each day to remember all the little things we need to be grateful for!
A Do and Done List
Let’s face it, if I sat down right now and wrote out everything I need to do I would probably cry. Then each day all I would be doing is adding tasks to that list making it completely never ending and overwhelming. I heard this idea of creating a “do and done” list from Greg Mckeown and I absolutely fell in love. So I am here sharing it with all of you!
Each morning I think about what has to get done, like which things are the biggest priorities. Mine might look something like this, I have to:
- Wash laundry
- Make the boys lunch
- Prep dinner
- Cook dinner
- Get in a workout
- Make next weeks menu
Now I also have to order birthday supplies, schedule emails, order groceries, plus a million other things. The truth is I’m never going to be able to do it all in one day. So I make a list of a few things that HAVE to be done on that day and once I’m finished with it, I’m done. That means no more work, no more chores, nothing but spending my time doing what I want to do!
As a mom let’s face it, that to do list isn’t going to end so you have to make sure you intentionally end it each night so you can spend time relaxing and having fun with your family!
There you have it my busy moms, 3 strategies to help prevent mommy burnout. I know these are not magic cures and I am for sure not promising you they will solve all your problems but they can definitely help! I know what it is like to feel overwhelmed. I end up snapping at my family and it is just not the mom I want to be. Knowing that I knew I had to find ways to help prevent that from happening! I hope it helps you also!
Us moms need each other for support so please share this with a mom who may need to read it also! We need to stick together!
