5 Great Stress Relievers
Thought you´d escaped stress when you left the corporate world? Ha! There´s no lack of stress in the life of a wahm. Whether you´re trying to keep your baby and toddler entertained while finishing projects on tight deadlines, or shuttling pre-teens to soccer and karate while trying to conduct business on the phone, all while providing your family with a decently clean home and real food . . . you are going to find stress. So, here are five ways to get rid of it.
1. Schedule some “me” time. Decide what you need to stay sane and schedule it into your daytimer. For some moms, just having someone else take the kids so you can relax in the tub without someone bursting in with a broken toy is more than enough to kill the day to day stress. Others will need something else, a daily jog, a monthly spa visit, etc. Everyone is different, so don´t try to use someone else´s idea, relax the way that works best for YOU.
2. Get physical. Being active is a great way to boost your seratonin levels and get out some frustration. Boxing, karate and swimming are all great ways to pound out your stress and get balanced again. If you find yourself wound up and frustrated a lot, go for something like boxing that allows you to hit things . . . you´ll be amazed at how good it feels.
3. Play. Whether you decide to play tag or Parcheesi with the kids, or arrange for a weekly poker night with the girls, or even spend an hour playing a video game by yourself, play is a very important part of relaxing. Remember the saying “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy”? Well, it goes for Jill, too!
4. Plan ahead. Sometimes we get stressed because we simply get overwhelmed with everything there is to do. You can ease this by sitting down once a week or even daily, to plan out what you need to do and break it into baby steps. For example, if you need to write a chapter in your book, break it down into research, outline, writing and editing. Knowing HOW you´re going to do everything is often very relieving.
5. Learn to say “no”. I am still working on this one myself. How often is your stress caused by taking on more than you know you can handle. Sometimes, it´s really tempting to take on just one more job because you need the extra money, but remember that your health and your family as well as your other work will suffer if you do too much for too long. Occasionally, it´s fine to push yourself to the limits, but try to keep your work to a reasonable level that won´t stress you.
Share your stress relief tips in the comments!
I’ll start being a WAHM next October…and wow…you know all I need to know. TFS…
Well, there´s lots more to come, so I hope you will be able to keep coming back, or subscribe to the RSS feed. I´m glad you found this blog useful!
I like to play board games to relieve stress. Monopoly is my favorite.
Saying no is the most difficult thing I have to do during the holidays. It seems that I always have more thanksgiving guests than I intended and it takes a lot of the joy of this festive occasion because I’m in the kitchen all the time.
Learning how to say no to this kind of stress will never be my strong suit. I think this is a huge problem for most people.