You wake up and can smell the coffee you set on a timer, but can’t grab a hot refreshing cup. No time. Got to get the kids off to school and your younger ones ready to hit the road. You’ve got to run the errands you couldn’t get to yesterday. By now your great smelling coffee is cold and depressing and you leave it untouched.
By 3:30 in the afternoon you realize you haven’t eaten. But all the kids are full, some showing the evidence on their shirts. Later your husband comes home. You quickly kiss as you’re preparing dinner, and that’s about all you can give with a spatula in one hand and a baby on your hip. After dinner the kids start their nightly routine of ring around the mommy and you can’t wait until their little heads hit their soft pillows to sleep.
Then ahh, quiet. You drag yourself to yourself to your room. All you want is 5 minutes to think, then 5 more to take a shower and wash off today’s smashed sweet potatoes. But nope, 1 more person wants your attention. Your husband gives you that look your heart palpitates for. Just when you were about to escape to a dream world where you have 3 nannies and 2 maids to help you coordinate it all. The truth is you actually want some intimacy too, but your brain, body, and emotions can’t catch up with each other. That combo’s a no go and there goes one more night of “honey I’m tired.” You can’t imagine how you’re gonna do it all over again tomorrow, but you know you will. You think there’s no other way and can’t imagine trying to navigate a better solution.
Hey Mama! You’ve got mommy burnout!
To help you come out of your mommy fog I came up with a check list of 5 Ways To Avoid Mommy Burnout. Because no one wants a zombie for a mom. (that’s just scary!)
- Create a routine
- Ask for help
- Give up trying to be perfect
- Get your partner more involved
- Plan 20 minutes for you to step away and reboot
As a mom I know you may be thinking:
- I have a routine, it’s called chaos.
- I have no one to ask for help.
- Not be perfect? Me?
- My husband/partner is usually no help or is too exhausted from work to get more involved?
- How the hell can I plan anything for myself when I can’t get my life together now?
The truth is there’s an answer for each of these questions that are unique to you and your mom life. You just need help finding the solutions to put out your mommy burnout. Believe me I’ve been there. Your mommy burnout is real and can escalate to other things you don’t want in your life. So seek out help to get you started on this check list.
Just imagine a calmer, more put together, and happier you. It’s possible, you’ve just gotta make that first step. Choose one of the 5 on the checklist to get you started so you can begin to live the life you crave to have.
** Angel Lawery is a Life Coach for Dedicated Moms. She helps moms find themselves through the crazy overwhelm and awesome madness of mom life. She helps her clients merge who they were, with the mom they are now.
Angel can be reached through her lovely website www.angellawery.com or you can give her feedback at angel@angellawery.com. She’s reads all her emails because she’s usually attached to it like a barnacle on a ship. (She loves cruises, can’t you tell?)