Being a mom can be thoroughly exhausting, and while you are, no doubt, thinking the words “well, duh!” At this is very point, are you doing anything about it? Or have you resigned yourself to the fact that you are going to be exhausted for the next 15 to 20 years?
The big problem a lot of us have in life is that we think that it’s just the way it is. That is nothing we can do about it, and when you have so many different pressures in life, not just the fact that you are struggling financially.
Because buying things for your children now means you pretty much have to remortgage your home, the reality is a lot of parents face now is that both of them have to work full-time jobs, while concurrently balancing a healthy relationship with the kids, not to mention, the other essentials in life, from shopping to school, and everything else in between. It seems that now, while every parent feels incredible pressure on every aspect of their lives, it means that stress is not just something we feel on occasion, but it’s our default setting.
So, what is the answer? By the time you’ve put the kids to bed, done the laundry, and finally found time for you and your partner, you end up falling asleep. And while we all are different, it’s our night time routine that can set us up for the next day, give us the tools to tackle everything with enthusiasm, but can also energize us efficiently. So, what can you do before going to bed that will make sure you are rested, relaxed, and are recuperating properly?
Fixing Your Mindset
Depending on your attitude to life, you might find yourself of a positive disposition, or a negative one. If you will find yourself like Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, this is going to impact every part of your life. It can be easy to get into this cycle of negative thinking, especially when you don’t have time for yourself.
The solution is to make the time. While you might find yourself against the idea of getting up before the rest of the family, by having that quiet time, and doing something that is for you, and makes you feel good, will have a great effect on your mindset throughout the whole of the day. It doesn’t have to be getting up at 4:30 in the morning, but if you give yourself the opportunity to ease into the day, you are going to be able to tackle tasks far better, and without that dreaded stress.
Now, this depends on what your own interests are. For a lot of us, if we look good, we feel good, so if you feel under the weather a lot, and you can see the effects on your face, maybe a skincare routine will be something to brighten up your spirits. Numerous resources like Sio – Skin Innovation Overnight, provide simple patches that improve collagen function, so if you put some of these on your face before going to bed, you will wake up in the morning looking a lot happier with your appearance, but by having the time to put a full face of makeup on and do your hair properly, you will have that confidence you need to see you through the day.
It’s amazing how much the external factors can impact our internal ones. And while fixing yourself from the outside it might work, doing it the other way round will also have a positive impact. Making 10 minutes for yourself in the morning and the night to take part in some rejuvenating techniques, such as box breathing, or mindfulness, have been shown to have a positive impact on every aspect of our lives, from our blood pressure lowering significantly, to a more relaxed mindset. This is something that, if you can get into the practice of doing it, you will feel so many benefits throughout your life.
How You Can Get Good Sleep
Sleep is the ever evasive thing we need to ensure that we are sufficiently recharged. Sleep is usually the lowest of the priorities, after ensuring your kids go to sleep, and all the housework being completed. But, you are doing your body and mind a disservice if you don’t get the adequate 8 hours. Likewise, you might be getting the sufficient amount, but you are still waking up feeling like you could do with a couple more hours. The trick is all about one simple thing, banning electronics from the bedroom.
A lot has been written about how electronics can impact your sleep, and specifically, mobile phones. But it’s not just mobile phones that have the blue light that impacts on melatonin (your sleep hormone) if you are partial to night-time TV watching, it may relax you, but the blue light being emitted from the TV is almost as bad as the one coming from your phone. The real solution, if you want to get a proper, rested sleep, is to go blackened. You want your room to be so dark, that you cannot see your hand in front of your face.
The simple way to get this underway is to purchase blackout blinds. If you can’t get the adequate amount of sleep, then you need to make what little sleep you can get, good quality. In addition to this, the quality of your bed will make all the difference, and buying a mattress that minimizes allergens, not to mention ensuring your pillows are well supported are simple little things that can mean a big difference in your night’s sleep.
Winning The Battle The Night Before
If you have that feeling you are constantly chasing your tail, and the time your kids go to bed is when you can clean up all loose ends, it’s hardly a surprise that you feel exhausted come the morning. You’ve done so much the night before to clean up the end of the day that you are feeling the effects of stress. And as soon as you finished everything at the end of the night, you are constantly thinking about what you have to do tomorrow.
Well, it’s at this point where you might want to take the attitude of getting ahead of yourself. Much like when you get up early so you can have some time to get yourself in check, by starting your day the night before, you’ve got a lot less on your to-do list, meaning that you start off the day on the right foot. So, what are the best things to do the night before? You could take the entrepreneurial approach and lay out clothes for yourself, but extend this to your kids.
In addition to this, things like packed lunches are easy to prepare the night before. But if you’re thinking that all this is just adding to your day, you’ll feel the benefits come Friday night when you’ve got nothing to do apart from looking after the kids. One of the best tricks to help yourself get ready the night before is to do these essential tasks while listening to music, or your favorite podcast, this makes it a bit more enjoyable, rather than something you have to do.
Sharing Your Problems
And if you really have no time to do anything the night before, the best tool you can give yourself is a piece of paper and a pen. If you worry about what’s going to happen tomorrow, and if you are going to be able to do everything, part of the difficulty in falling asleep at night is the fact that you’ve got so much information in your head.
Writing a to-do list, with everything laid out, and what order you can do it in, means you have more control over your day. By listing everything that needs doing, and putting it to one side, will make sure your brain is empty enough so that you can relax.
The humble pen and paper can also be beneficial in having a brain. If there are things playing on your mind, write about them. If you don’t have a diary, or you don’t have any form of getting things off your chest, a piece of paper and writing out these problems can help you to realize how minimal they are, or if they are major problems, one of the best things you can do is to list the pros and cons of each, and go to sleep. You might find that you have woken up with the answer because your subconscious has worked through it in the night.
Of course, the ideal way to win these battles would be to implement them all, but this is impossible. If you can take inspiration from this, and try to do a few of these before bed, you will feel so much better as a result.
As we get older, the more we shun a nighttime routine, but, we still make sure our kids have one. So surely, we should take inspiration from what we do for our kids, so that they have a peaceful sleep, and do it for ourselves? We will wake up feeling better, and as a result, that energy slump we feel in the middle of the day, or as soon as we wake up, will soon become a thing of the past
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