Can I Get a Day Off?

I have been scouring the blogosphere lately, reading a ton of good material, encountering people of common interest and those of differing interests alike, and I have been having a lot of fun reading.

In a recent blog post I read called Mental Health Day, Charlotte describes calling in sick for the first time in over a year to simply take a break from her stressful job.

Her blog post reminded me that, as a stay at home mom, I can’t very easily take a sick day or a mental health day from my “job”. Though, I am indeed lucky to have family and friends to call on if I really need them. Also, I am fortunate enough to have less overall stress then when I was a working mom. Now I can focus on home life and budgeting and play dates and my relationship with my kids. I didn’t have the bandwidth of brain capacity to think about and manage all those things as a working mom.

Inescapable Stress

Feel the need to scream? Let it out!

Still, I certainly have home stress that feels inescapable at times. It’s the kind of stress where I have constant pressure from two wild boys who crave and need attention and love. I grasp for moments of relief as I shut the bathroom door (all the way… gasp) to get a bit of privacy, stick them in front of the t.v. so I can clean, shove them out the door to search for bugs and play in the dirt so I don’t scream in frustration, all while hoping they don’t hurt themselves. Or, worse, embarrass me by, oh, I don’t know… pooping in the front yard!?! Yeah, to my mortification, that happened the other day… oh, the things I never knew I would deal with as a parent, they are endless.

What it comes down to is everyone has stress. Everyone needs to take moments (or large clumps of moments) to focus on themselves and their mental health. I can see how moms who stay at home might find themselves feeling a bit insane at times. While most people can’t often escape stress, we can find healthy ways to cope. Thanks to one of my final projects in college, I wrote a whole stress management program. So, I should be an expert right? Ha! Not so much, but I am certainly trying.

Some Self Praise

Running For Sanity

I learned recently in a parenting class the importance of praising not only others but ourselves. Sometimes we can be so critical of ourselves, not cool! So, today I am going to pat myself on the back for doing a great job of taking time 6 days a week to strive for my fitness goals because it helps me de-stress and in turn be a better mom. Good job Vanessa 🙂

Your Turn

Rejuvenate, fill yourself up, do something just for you today. You are totally worth it!