The tired mum’s guide to being awesome again!
Hello gorgeous mum!
Trying to juggle it all is known for its hectic schedules, making life changing decisions for a number of humans, and managing big emotions… and not just your own.
For anyone trying to manage work, an actual life and a meaningful childhood for their kids, trust me when I say - if you feel like you’re failing all of these - you are not alone. Let me tell you the problems you encounter on the daily - most women are feeling it, and it throws all of us off balance. Having a solid strategy is one of the most powerful tools you can develop.
Why am I talking about this? Because it comes up more often than you’d think! A part of bringing your health back is nutting out how you got to this point in the first place… and making a road map on how we’re going to bring you back to the person you want to be !
And so, I’ve created some guidelines for you!
Strategy 1: Maintain some daily routines
To take some pressure off yourself, everyone must have a good understanding of some crucial areas or tasks that need to be done daily, in order for the whole family to run more smoothly. Strategy helps everyone to know what to expect daily and creates better communication between the family, crucial for building better working family ties. Neglecting a strategy can lead to you feeling like you have to nag everyone all the time, making you the fun police, not to mention paving the road to you being overwhelmed and burnt out!
Think about some tasks that must be completed everyday that make your day and even the week run so much more smoothly. It might be - a load of washing must be done every second day so there’s not so much to do on your weekend. Or a daily cleaning schedule so you know certain problem areas of the house are getting done throughout the week. Or maybe it’s making a loose meal plan so you’re not left at the last minute rushing to the supermarket or stuck getting takeaways, ruining that diet you were doing so well with!
Strategy 2: Delegate Responsibilities
Being a working mum often means juggling more than usual. Delegating can help to ensure your week runs more smoothly, there’s less meltdowns (and not just from the kids), it reduces stress which is crucial for managing any health symptoms, as well as free up time that you so desperately need.
How to Implement
Identify tasks that you have completely taken over and they don’t really need to be done by just you. Sharing small daily tasks between family members, even our littlest helpers, can help you to leveredge time that might allow you to do something else (like organise that laundry cupboard…), or do that meal plan. Stuff that sometimes we just can’t get to. Use family working boards to keep track of the week and job delegations or consider completely outsourcing some tasks to a local small business like window cleaning, floor washing, gardening or mowing.
Strategy 3: Do something daily that puts your health first!
You have to start making your health a priority so you have the energy and the mental health to be there for the people that mean the most to us.
The mums I see are pretty burnt out, it’s causing massive stress on their thyroid, driving weight gain, low energy and hormonal problems, let alone setting them up for terrible menopausal transitions as well as health complications in the decades to come.
Finding time for focusing on you is essential, especially when the modern day mum is under a lot of stress most of the time. Pencilling in ways to physically support the nervous system to function in ‘rest and digest’ mode is essential to achieve daily! Meditation, gentle daily exercise, journaling, guided meditative breathing, taking a bath with essential oils, ensuring that you catch up with a friend once per week, drinking plenty of filtered water and eating nutritious food all is essential for lowering and metabolising stress hormones better, is anti-inflammatory and crucial for you to start feeling better again.
How to Implement
Deciding that your health is a priority is the first step to being that awesome working mum that you dream of! Gentle exercise daily… non-negotiable, even if you just make it around the block. Ensuring you have something easy and nutritious for lunch… non-negotiable, it doesn’t need to be a master chef meal!
Once you get a few strategies in place that help you better manage busy working mum life, you will also be allowing yourself to heal and become the person you want to be.
For more inspiration:
See my blog post “5 easy meal-prep lunch ideas” to spark your meal planning processes.
Wishing you best health always,
Tash xx
