Help for Special Needs Moms: My Top 5 Ways to Relieve Stress

Life has been hectic lately. We’ve had about 6 snow days this year, meaning since January 1, and it’s only March 9th! We’ve also had about 8 late starts. For a work at home mom who writes for a living, that means I need to find extra time to make my life work.

It also means my stress levels are off the charts. This is in addition to the usual stress of special dieting (we’ve been doing sugar- and grain-free GAPS diet for Zoe), detoxing the kids, dealing with full moon last weekend (both mean extra dose of unpleasant behaviors from the kids), stress from our situation with Special Olympics swimming (put it this way: we’re probably going to drop it), and an unusually bad week for my family – plus an audition for Listen to Your Mother. My work schedule is far behind and don’t even get me started on housework and laundry. No one’s been able to find a clean sock for days.

Through it all, though, I can’t afford to stress out. Stress makes me freeze up and lose precious time getting everything I need to put together as a mom (including laundry, which is going right now). Here are my top 5 ways for moms to relieve stress that you can start right now:

1. Plan ahead to reduce anxiety.

I’m a procrastinator by nature, and spontaneous to boot so while this may seem logical to some moms, for me, it’s a challenge. It’s worth the effort, though, if you are not a planner to sit down and get things going. You don’t even need to list, you can task small chores that are near each other to ease your next day. For example, last night we were thrown off by losing an hour thanks to Daylight Savings Time. So we though it was 5PM and and it was really 6 – and dinner still wasn’t defrosted! While we made it through that stressful event, I uses the time I spent cooking and defrosting to clean up so that after dinner, I’d only have a few dishes left. I knew nighttime routines were out the window, so I read scripture and prayed with the kids while they ate. Then I spent clean up time laying out school/breakfast items for the morning as the girls cleaned the table. By the time I sat down for “The Walking Dead,” I was finished with chores for the night. Go me!

2. Take a mommy time out.

You need to find some time in the day that’s just yours. In the old days when the kids were little, these were 5 minutes of time, acquired with extended showers and an extra few minutes on the toilet bowl doing nothing but reading. 😉  Now with older kids, I have me time AFTER the kids get on the bus – 10-20 minutes of listening to worship music, praying and reading scripture. Putting God FIRST is the best way to start my day and I highly recommend it. After the day is done, I give myself 5-10 minutes before lights out and after my prayer and Scripture routine (praying for my family and reading either a continuation of a book or parable, OR most often, dipping in praise Psalms. Then I give myself a few minutes to read a fiction book I really love. These are things I love to do and are pure me time. Find the things that make you feel best and sketch out a few minutes to regularly achieve them several times a week.

3. Exercise even if it’s just a little.

I have truly dropped the ball on this but if you are wound up, there is no better way to get the tension out than working out. If you can handle them, you might want to try burpees (make sure your doctor or practitioner says it’s ok). These have helped me work out tension and pain in my neck and shoulder area, as well as lower back pain but it depends why you are getting the pain. For me, it was from sleeping improperly, sitting in a bad position (my couch is broken),or having my period. Even as someone who HATES to exercise, this is one of the BEST things you can do for yourself. While I haven’t been exercising like I should, I have been jogging in place or jumping on our mini-trampoline a bit. Just those small activities have helped reduce stress for me, even though I’m more sedentary than I should be. Consider it!

4. Drink herbal teas you like.

Ok, I am NOT a big fan of tea. I have tried switching to it in the morning, but I still want my coffee so instead, I do caffeine free herbal tea at night. I would recommend an organic tea. Try different kinds. For example, I can’t stand either green tea or chamomile, but I love raspberry. Read the labels in store – there are SO many brands widely available and they cover everything from cramps to breastfeeding. Some are quite potent so read any warnings and ask your health care practitioner if it’s ok to drink them. Use caution but other than that, make sure you buy a high quality, fresh tea.

5. Take RESCUE Pearls.

Now I personally believe you need to do ALL of those daily to be effective, productive and avoid burn out but I know that time is at a premium, especially if you are raising a kiddo with special needs or a newborn. There is a quick fix that is ideal for the busy mom: RESCUE Pearls by Bach are homeopathic natural stress relief capsules. I took one on Saturday morning because I was nervous on the way to my LTYM audition. By the time I read my article, I felt confident, even pitching my piece with emotion as I got to the critical points. I even got choked up – but that didn’t stop me from giving a strong reading! RESCUE Pearls are small and dissolve easily. (I didn’t need water but then I don’t always.) The active ingredients can help with courage, presence of mind, focus, patience, balance and more. Developed by a doctor, RESCUE products, which includes RESCUE Pastilles and RESCUE Sleep Liquid Melts, are gentle and safe with no habit forming issues or side effects. They are used all over the world and have been trusted for generations. You can buy RESCUE products in the U.S. at your local CVS, Walgreens, Whole Foods, Sprouts and wherever you find natural products! This small box easily fits in your purse. Now is a great time to try RESCUE products for stress relief because you can sign up for a coupon now and enter their sweepstakes.

It’s important to manage your stress carefully when you’re a mom because burnout can damage you and your family. Take it from someone who had a stroke and would up in the hospital for a week – thankfully, before I had kids, but lesson learned!

Now it’s your turn. What steps do you take to stamp out the stress in your life?

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of Clever Girls and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.