5 Tips to Overcome Working Mom Stress
If Instagram were any indication you’d think being a working mom was about perfectly coiffed kids and meal prepped lunches with artfully arranged food. Social media shows us perfectly curated photos of motherhood. It’s vital that we understand how far those photos are from the truth.
Being a mother is full of beautiful highs and deep lows. It’s about the biggest love and the hardest frustrations. Add work to the mix, along with chores and bills and a marriage, and working mom stress can build up.
The American Psychological Association (APA) notes that women are much more likely than men to put their family’s needs ahead of their own. Women are also becoming increasingly responsible for financial and health decisions within the family, along with working outside of the home. It’s no wonder that working mom stress has become more prevalent in the last decade.
Here are five tips to manage working mom stress and prevent mommy burnout.
Preventing Working Mom Burnout
Make time for yourself.
You can’t help your family be their best if you’re run down and ragged. Taking the time to rest, do the things you love, and recharge your spirit will help you to handle all that working mom stress.
Enlist help.
You don’t have to do it all. You don’t have to do it alone. Ask your family to pitch in. Have children help with chores. You’ll find that children become much more responsible and self-sufficient when they learn to do things on their own at an early age.
Discuss how you feel with your spouse and ask for assistance. Make your needs explicit and specific. “I need help doing three loads of laundry a week.” If you can afford it, there’s no shame in hiring someone to help with the yard or housework.
Set realistic expectations for others.
The spouse may buy pizza for dinner and forget to brush the kids hair, but if the children are loved and safe then it’s okay. The laundry may not be folded the way you would have done it, but it’s folded and put away. Your spouse may not be able to perform tasks to your exact standards, but he’s trying. Adjusting your standards may help to alleviate stress and keep the peace.
Scale back your duties, either at work or at home. Or both.
You can’t have everything, but you can love what you have. Take inventory of what tasks are essential and what just results in extra work. You may be surprised at how many things can streamlined in your life.
Find time to exercise regularly.
Exercise provides a healthy way to release stress and calm the mind. Exercise doesn’t need to be at the marathon level, it only needs to be done regularly. Even walking for 30 minutes three times a week can relieve stress.
The Mom Life
Finding healthy ways to alleviate stress is key. CalmiGo can help to adjust your breathing and calm your mind. Using CalmiGo for three minutes three times a day can help manage feelings of working mom stress.
One thing all mothers can do is support other mothers. Mommy bashing only makes all mother’s lives difficult, because it creates feelings of inadequacy and makes everyone vulnerable to criticism in the end. Instead, shower other mothers help and kudos, because all moms are trying to do their very best.
