Five Steps to Avoid Burnout

When it comes to being a parent, burnout is enemy number one. There are 93,000+ articles about mom burnout on Google search, so it must be happening to a lot of us. Burning out means slowing down, and slowing down means getting less done in an already-hectic day. Our kids rely on us to be on our A-game and we can’t deliver an optimal performance if we waste time on energy-suckers. Leap Day (or, at least, the idea of Leap Day, the extra calendar day in 2016) should give you the extra day you needed to get more done with less energy, but after that, you can follow this five-step process to avoid burnout.

In order to take care of everyone else, you must first take care of yourself. Try to rest when the kids rest. If your kids don’t rest, tag-team resting with your spouse, friend or parent to make sure you rejuvenate regularly.

There is no shame in taking a rest when you need a rest. When you take care of yourself, you take better care of everyone else. Make you better for them and don’t waste time thinking about feeling guilty for doing it. You don’t need permission to do this. Just do it.

Stop trying to achieve “balance” and just shoot for “harmony.” “Having it all” and balancing everything is an unrealistic goal for anyone, but especially mothers. The truth is that most days will be completely unbalanced. Change your expectation to seek harmony over balance.

Look at life in terms of seasons. “Everything is a phase.” You’ve probably heard that before. When you’re raising young children, all of their growth milestones are phases. Everything bad is a phase with an ending point, along with everything good. Looking at life in terms of seasons or phases helps to differentiate the unique moments of every season and the special times to look forward to in seasons to come.

Don’t say “yes” to everything. It’s okay to say no sometimes. It’s okay to not do “all of the things.” When you over-schedule yourself and your children, you overextend your family and you burnout faster. Say no sometimes and be okay with it because it’s the best thing for you and for them. It’s much more fun and relaxing to go off schedule or build breaks into your schedule to be silly, spend time together or just have a moment of quiet for everyone.

Today’s #29DaysofEssentials to-do is to tell us how you avoid mom burnout. Do you do one of these or all of these? Tell us in the comments.