As a mom, anxiety is that guest that always overstays their welcome. They stay and make themselves at home, when you really want to have alone time. But, we can’t seem to find the words to ask them to leave. So we just deal with it and clean up after all their messes. Does this sound familiar?
When you are alone, when you have time to think, you get bombarded with all the thoughts. All of a sudden you’re overthinking all of your choices and questioning everything. You focus on all that could go wrong. That then puts you on edge, with yourself and your family and friends. Now you’re left to clean up the messes that were caused by overthinking and you don’t really know how to stop it.
After dealing with anxiety almost all of my life and even more now as a mother during a pandemic, here is how I get through.
- Have grace for yourself. It’s ok to not be perfect 100% of the time, I promise. You can lift so much weight off of your shoulders by repeating and believing that.
- Talk to someone you trust. A councilor, a pastor, a friend. Thoughts held in can be vindictive, but expressing them and talking through them, helps them lose their power. A councilor can help you with reachable, helpful ways to work through anxiety.
- Keep a journal and write whatever you want, for however long you want. You only have a couple of minutes? That’s ok, use it! You want to write for an hour, do it! Don’t let it become another burden, but it can help sometimes to put pen (or washable marker) to paper. As you journey through, it sometimes helps to look back and see what you’ve overcome.
- Take time for you. I know easier said then done, but it can be done. It can be something like going to get a massage, getting your hair trimmed, getting a new book, and so on. Or it can be setting the alarm to wake up 10 min earlier than everyone else and drinking your coffee while it’s hot. It can be taking 5 min to put mascara on or having a light night to catch up on adult tv while the kids sleep. Do something you like for 5 min a day. This makes you a better version of yourself and a better mom.
- Breath and unclench your jaw. We hold some much emotional tension in our upper body. Go outside sit in the sun (yay, natural vitamin d) and take a couple of very deep breaths. Doing that can clear your mind and help yourself live in the moment. Yes things around you can still be chaotic, but at least your more in tune with yourself.
Doing these simple things can you become a better you, filled with less anxiety. And being a better mom, wife, friend, family member, that all falls after. You got this!
