I had a mom meltdown a few weeks ago.
I got sick of being the only one cooking, cleaning, meal prepping, working full-time plus doing everything for the kids AND working a side hustle. I felt run down, exhausted, disrespected and quite frankly, depressed.
I know this pandemic has moms everywhere feeling anxiety and feeling run down. So if you feel like that too, please know you’re not alone!
I don’t have a magic cure for this or a 3 step process to make you feel better. (I really wish I did.) But, I do have some words of encouragement and some lessons I recently learned from having a mom meltdown.
Prefer to listen to a version of this podcast instead of reading? Check out the podcast episode.
What I Learned From my Mom Meltdown
1. Communication IS important. I was not communicating my needs to my husband. I expected him to SEE the dirty bathroom, SEE the meals that needed to be cooked, and SEE everything that needed to be done. Unfortunately, my husband doesn’t work like that. He doesn’t see the things I see and I can’t hold that against him. During my break down I told him everything I wanted help with: meal prepping, cleaning, laundry, motivating the kids and so much more.
And now he’s doing so much more around the house. He asked me for a recipe for overnight oats LOL! And he preps overnight oats for our breakfast for the week. He’s also making us lunches and dinner – we use HungryRoot and those meals are so easy to put together, I can actually trust him to make something I’ll eat.
2. Take time for yourself. I understand we’re in the middle of a pandemic and some of us feel comfortable going out and some of us don’t. If you don’t feel comfortable inside of public spaces yet, you can still grab time for yourself. Go for a walk alone, ride a bike alone, sit on a park bench and read a book, go get take out and eat alone….you get the idea. Take time to be with yourself and your thoughts!
3. Make things as EASY as possible. I recently learned about a meal planning hack that helped me set up a “master meal plan” and now I can just plug in meals and shop. This has taken so much stress off of me each week.
4. Make time for fun. The last few months have been a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Depression, despair, heartbreak, fear and then acceptance, optimism and everything else you can think of. Setting aside time each day for fun really helps me – we play board games, Cinco Linko or just go for walks outside with the kids and dogs. Even watching funny videos or making some yourself counts! Do things that make you happy and make you laugh! Right now my thing is learning about photography, editing and illustrating on Skillshare. It’s what makes me happy.
Another thing, don’t be ashamed of your mom meltdown. Meltdowns happen. I don’t know what your new normal is and if you’re struggling. I do know you’ll make it through this and I know you’re doing the best you can. Keep going. I’m rooting for you!
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Each week I'll send you the latest Resource Page. In it, you'll find
- Handy tips for focusing on positivity throughout your week.
- Tricks for getting your kids to listen to your every word (just kidding,Girl-- I'm still working on getting my kids to listen!) But I will send you fun activity ideas for you and your kids to do together.
- Useful tools that I come across, like meal planning ideas and such!
thank you for being so genuine. I cannot tell you how much stumbling across your Pinterest means to me. I am going through the worst times right now and actually had maybe more then a meltdown today and I feel awful that both my daughters had to witness it. this makes me feel so much better reading someone else going through the same experience who is actually super down to earth and you offer such inspiration. I can assure you I will find more peace of mind in the future being a follower and subscriber to you. Thank you so much and keep being amazing!
Thank you Rachel, your comment reached me on a dark day and helped shine some light into my day.