… schedule some “me time”.

This week, I’ve seen several posts around the www lately of mums feeling overwhelmed, busy and spread a little thin.

I hear ya.

I am a full-time working mum, juggling work, family, housework and my own hobbies. And most of the time there is never enough time in the day. In the crafting community, there is also a lot of women who are either working from home or working part-time as well as working from home.

So I wanted to share something today from a booklet I got several years ago now, when my eldest was a baby (he’s about to turn 7) which was put together by motherinc and sponsored by Nurofen. The content itself is timeless and still is just as relevant today as it was six years ago. It’s called Balance: A guide for busy mothers managing work and family.

It is filled with tips and strategies from people across the parenting and child care field. It’s simple, easy to read, full of no-nonsense advice and is realistic.

And the following is one of my favourites. It is by Jo Lamble, a clinical psychologist and co-author of Motherhood: making it work for you.

One thing she says, which I love is: “Superwoman does NOT exist, let alone live in your house”.

Yep.

Here is an extract from her piece in the book on mental wellbeing.

Finding the right balance is about priorities, expectations and thinking. It’s about making decisions and feeling good about those decisions.

So with the ultimate objective of joy, here are a few basic strategies to keep in mind.

• A happy mother makes for a happy child, so be happy – with you are and your choices, and acknowledge you are doing a good job.
• Throw away your plans, go with the flow and take things day by day. Don’t be committed to how you think it should be.
• When it comes to making a decision, explore and evaluate all the options and choose what’s best for YOU when the time comes, not before you have to.
• When you have made a decision, be comfortable with it and resist pressure from others to change it, knowing you can always change it if you want to.
• It is normal to feel out of control from time to time. Learn to relinquish control of some things and take control over others.
• Think clearly – how you think directly influences the way you feel and how you react to different situations. Rationalise and challenge your need to be in control, unreasonable expectations or feelings of guilt.
• Identify how you can best take time our for yourself and take it. Add a little “me time” to your day or week – even if it’s simply making yourself a cp of tea. “Me time” is high on the list of priorties otherwise you can burn out completely.
  

Enjoy your day, and make sure you steal a little of it for you.