When you’ve told someone that you feel stressed either at work or home because you were a new mom, what have you been told?
Let me have a few guesses:
“You just need a holiday.”
“Have a massage.”
The issue with these ‘go-to’ recommendations is that they imply that stress will only go away when these events happen.
So even though you might feel less stressed when you are on holiday or having a lovely message (and don’t get me wrong, I love both of these)…
…your anxiety or worry is likely to come back the moment you get home.
Why?
Because you didn’t address the real problem AND allowing someone or something to be responsible for lowering your stress means you are now dependent on that someone or something.
And let’s face it, you can’t spend your life on holiday or at the spa.
But there are many things that you CAN do to manage your levels of stress.
Things like finding moments of meditation throughout your day or introducing calm at home.
I’ve talked about these in the context of helping kid’s anxiety but managing your stress as a parent is just as important.
It will help you react better when your kids trigger you and allow you to set an example to your kids of the type of person you want them to be.
When you can manage your own stress, you will sleep better, have more patience and become more empathic.
This helps with every aspect of your life, not just parenting.
If you’d like to learn more about stress triggers and management, visit this blog post:
Stress Triggers: How To Identify Them
