4 Ways Stressed Out Moms Can Calm Down Quickly

Taking mom mental health time shouldn’t just be on a schedule.  When you recognize overwhelm or stress coming on, combat it quickly with these 4 easy tips.

Yesterday, I shared the goals I have for myself in 2018.  In my post about this mom’s 2018 goals, I specifically said I was going to schedule mommy’s time.

This morning, I realized I’m gonna have to do more than that in order to regain some sense of sanity.  As a mom of two children, one being a cranky toddler, once or twice a month just isn’t going to cut it.  I spent the morning cleaning laundry and packing up the kids to stay with their pawpaw in a few days.

I’ve been rushing from task to task, trying to get as much done as I could, early in the day.  All the while, my attention was constantly being diverted with a toddler who wanted anything and everything just to get my attention.

In an effort to mix things up, I sent the two kids to play in his room upstairs.  I asked my daughter to make sure he didn’t walk out of the room.  My main concern was that he’d walk out the door and tumble down the stairs.

Unfortunately, I kept hearing cries and screams coming from the other room and I had to drop my work and bring the kids back downstairs to play.  But when my presence didn’t help the toddler’s mood, I gave up completely and rushed him into his bedroom.  I left him in his crib and walked away.

Guys, as I still here looking at the TODAY mug I received while at Mom 2.017, drinking some Yogi skin detox tea, I realize, I can’t just focus on taking scheduled mental health time.  Sometimes, an exhausted mom just has to TAKE some mommy time.

My son earned himself quiet time.  Thankfully my daughter is self-sufficient for the most part, so asking her to take some time to herself wasn’t difficult.  And, I said “forget the scheduled time.”  I just decided to take some mom mental health time.

How I’m Taking Mom Mental Health Time (and you can, too)

If you need a few self-care ideas that don’t take much time to think about or plan ahead, these are the 4 things I almost instinctively do to boost my mood and recover from a rough spell with the kids.

Sip a cup of something healthy.  I made myself a lovely cup of tea.  This time, I chose a pack of [easyazon_link identifier=”B003YJCUKM” locale=”US” nw=”y” nf=”y” tag=”ivsvabasaan0a-20″ cart=”n” cloak=”n” localize=”y” popups=”y”]Yogi skin detox tea[/easyazon_link] I received in a MommyCon box to try.  Luckily for me, taking better care of my skin was on my list of goals for the new year, so I’m really  Most days I’d choose chamomile and honey.

Give the kids a quiet activity.  If you can persuade the kids to work on something independently, try.  A box of magnet letters, coloring books, or felt play may be enough to keep them entertained without you for a few minutes.

Don’t feel bad about leaving them to work out their emotions.  Sometimes, I can’t figure out how to make one (or both) of the kids happy.  There’s no sense in continuing to stress myself out over it constantly, so I sometimes resort to leaving them in their rooms to sort it out themselves.  It’s OKAY!

Plug in headphones and listen to calming music.  I’ve sometimes found myself so stressed that I’ve had to completely tune out all sounds and re-balance.  My favorite way to finding mental health more quickly is to plug in my earbuds and listen to a Pandora radio station called New Age Instrumental Radio.  Any sounds that promote calm is a good choice.

I realized my plan for taking scheduled mommy time is a great plan to keep me sane throughout the year.  It will give me a chance to focus on myself and discover things I like to do alone.  But, taking mom mental health time in short spurts to combat the stress before it becomes overwhelm is another acceptable way to make it through the year with more sanity.  Being a stay at home mom is hard.  If we’re being honest, the kids get tired of you and you probably get tired of them.  Finding balance is a practice not to be taken lightly, and probably won’t come by simply sticking to a once or twice a month schedule.

If you need 15 minutes of mental health time, just take it!