5 Habits that will Save you from Being Overwhelmed!

PUT YOURSELF FIRST

You can’t pour from an empty cup. You just can’t. If you are tasked with the care of children, a household, friends and family, or even a stressful job, you MUST take care of yourself first. Always putting others before yourself at all times is a perfect recipe for burnout. As a mom, its hard to imagine prioritizing myself before my children, but, when I am well rested, well-fed and have lots of energy, I am able to be 10x the parent than I am when I am tired, worn out and fuelling my body with junk food.  The first thing I prioritize when I start feeling burnt out and overwhelmed is sleep. Skip Netflix and scrolling on your phone for a few nights and get to bed early, I guarantee you will notice a difference right away. Another place to focus is your food. I am not going to tell you what to eat, but just say this, when you put crap in your body, you are going to feel like crap, you know it and I know it. Lastly – try to take a few minutes for yourself every day to relax, breathe and unwind. Even if it’s just in the few minutes between school drop-off and driving back home, we have all done the deep breaths in the driveway amiright?

WRITE IT DOWN

Our poor brains have so much to remember! Cleaning lists, shopping lists, work lists, to-do lists, add to that the schedules of everyone else in our lives and the mental load gets a bit too heavy. The single, easiest way to calm down the never-ending chatter of lists in my mind is to write it down. Get those appointments into a calendar, especially the little things – play dates, show and tell, and pyjama days at school, just get it all out.  Extra points if you keep ongoing lists in an app or day planner and have it with you at all times.  Try it today, write down everything you have been ‘remembering’ into a long list and notice the lightness it gives your mind.

STICK TO THE BASICS

Tired, overwhelmed, burnt out AND the house is a mess? I have been there and it sucks. Instead of attempting to tackle the whole house in a giant 5-hour marathon stress clean, for now, decide which THREE things are most important and stick to those. Mine are dishes (gotta eat!), laundry (gotta have clean underwear!), and getting showered and dressed in the morning. Once you have these down and your self-care has given you a bit more energy, then tackle the rest of it. Slowly but surely, your home will become your sanctuary again.

BE PREPARED

Having your stuff packed, prepped and ready by the door vs. scrambling at the last second to find everything while screaming at your family and inevitably forgetting the most important thing. In both cases, we have to get packed, get our stuff ready and get out the door. The amount of work DOES NOT change, however, the execution of these tasks could not be more different. Take the time tonight to pack up everything you need for tomorrow, find your keys, pack your snacks and set your coffee maker so tomorrow goes will feel infinitely easier.

ASK FOR HELP

I am not a superhero, I do not have 40 hours in a day, I can’t do it all. Recognize it and reach out! People in your life WANT to help you. In fact, doing kind things for others is the number one source of happiness. Our friends, family and coworkers do not want to watch us struggle, they want to be there for us – so let’s get down off our pride horse, admit we can’t do it all and reach out.