Give yourself a break
Hey there mama! I see you. Yes, I am talking to you. The one who is exhausted and feels overworked and underpaid in all aspects of your life. You take it all on. You are running the kids to doctors, attending school events, cleaning the house, doing the laundry, dashing through the grocery store. And maybe you have a full time job on top of this job called motherhood. At the end of the day, you can barely keep your eyes open long enough to give yourself a free 5 minutes.
You want time for yourself, I know you do. We all do. But maybe you are not sure how. Where do you start? It might seem impossible or selfish to have a life for yourself outside of your work, husband,kids and all the other mom duties that you have. But I promise you that it is NOT and you need it. Trust me sister, you need it!
The first thing to notice is where do you spend most of your time. Are you scrolling through the internet or watching television? I’m not judging you. I do both quite well. But if you are taking too much time on the internet, you could channel that time in to reading a book, writing in a journal or listening to a podcast. If you are up for it, you could even put down the phone and get on the treadmill or go out to dinner with friends.
I see you.. Because I am you!
I see you, because I am you. Yes, I’m in the trenches along with the rest of you. As a mama to 4 kids, 2 that are involved in sports and a full time educator, my life is CRAZY busy. But in 2019 I thought about how I would give myself free time. I needed it. My family needed for me to find some freedom.
In 2018 I was struggling with debilitating anxiety and so much anger. Every time my husband would say that he was going to do something, I wanted to lose it! He is a great man but I would be so envious of him getting free time. He always told me to do things. Heck, he encouraged me to go on a plane to visit a friend but it was me who was holding back. I would say to myself “Dana, if you go out, he will be upset with you.” “Dana, if you go out the kids will eat sugar for dinner.” “Dana, if you go out, something traumatic will happen and you won’t be home to help.” But I knew I needed something, so I slowly started going to the gym, dinner with the girls, journaling in our room. And guess what? The house didn’t burn down, the kids were alive and the laundry would be done. BTW, I’m super OCD about the way things are folded, but guess what, in order to get some free time, I had to “LET IT GO,” like Elsa says.
In my previous post, I discussed 5 to thrive. Set your alarm for an hour earlier than you would normally get up or work on that bed time and give yourself time in the evening. You got this mama! I am here for you cheering you on.
Challenge-today give yourself 30 minutes of alone time. Read a book, take a bath, journal. Whatever you choose. Do it for you!
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