10 Simple Ways to Cultivate Calm When You’re Feeling Stressed
Have a playlist at the ready so you can have a spontaneous dance party to diffuse a mounting meltdown.
Have you experienced a heightened sense of stress through the pandemic?
Life is stressful enough without layering on a pandemic. And moms, in particular, have beared the brunt. We’re stressed out, locked down, and feeling locked up too, breeding a sense of isolation and ”Yes, I actually am alone in this.”
Just when a mom of a couple of young kids may have figured out how to juggle getting the kids off to school or childcare…just when she was starting to establish a little life/work balance, the pandemic took over.
Now a common scenario is:
Kids of all ages are home – we know how that goes, parenting, particularly momming, is a full-time job.
Kids are being homeschooled – some kids can sit in front of the screen for hours, others for minutes, and others, well they just can’t sit still long enough for any screen time…and mothers can be ridiculed by teachers for not getting the kids to sit still.
Spouses are home – this can be disruptive, distracting, and can even add to the demands of home life.
Side gigs, part- or full-time careers, obligations (paid or not…I know plenty of women who actually work without pay) have to be squeezed in among the time spent on feeding, clothing (sometimes not!), and caring for little developing humans who need care.
Moms get no break – nada, zippo, zero. Even leaving the bathroom door open has become necessary!
The burden is real. The sense of responsibility a heavy weight. No wonder impatience is growing among moms who are feeling exhausted and burned out.
And the truth is on a large scale, there is not much we can do about this right now. However, with increased vaccination, kids heading back to school, and spring in the air, change is on the horizon.
In the meantime, there are small steps you can take to ensure just a few minutes of self-care, which due to the current climate is actually mental-health care.
Here’s a couple on my 10 Simple Ways to Cultivate Calm list to get you started on the road to more peace
Breathe – Always my favorite place to start. You can do it in an instant in the middle of your own meltdown and you can teach the kids to do this too when they start to feel the stress rising. Deep breath in for 5 seconds, expanding your belly fully, hold for 2, exhale completely to the count of 5. Repeat a couple of times.
Blast a Playlist – Music can alter your mood quickly. When I need a little pick-me-up and a reminder that I am loved, I listen to Lauren Daigle’s album Look Up Child. You can use iTunes, Spotify, Pandora, and others to identify music and playlists you love so they’re at the ready. Search Best Clean Kids Dance Music or choose a Disney movie track if you want to add the kids in for a spontaneous dance party, which can do wonders for a mounting meltdown.
Get the whole list of my 10 Simple Ways to Cultivate Calm as a colorful uplifting printable plus guide by clicking the button below.
Try giving yourself a Calm Break just a few minutes a day, right in the midst of the chaos of family life. You’ll feel better…and when you feel better (whether we like it or not), your family feels better too.
Have any ways of finding peace in the midst of home-front stress? I’d love to hear your ideas.