Stress – I always thought I had a good grasp on “Stress” until I had kids. Kids provide a whole new level of “Stress” I like to call OMG why did I have kids “Mummy Stress”. Even when I get ½ an hour to myself I find myself sitting there stressing about all the other things I should be doing.
According to the Wagner Stress test on Facebook: I am a worry wart. Trust me to be something ugly like a wart.
Life is hard, I don’t know anyone who just cruises through life and if they appear to be I am damn sure they are putting on a front. We, especially mothers, spend so much time comparing ourselves and our children to others that sometimes we lose sight of what is normal behavior for us and our kids.
I used to stress about my kids saying please and thank you. Worrying about how they were being perceived. Then it occurred to me that my children are just running around a million miles an hour and are NOT going to remember to say thank you for everything, every time.
I started saying thank you on their behalf and suddenly they started copying me and also saying thank you. This has prevented the embarrassing moment when you say “ What should you say?” and them being forced to spill out the words –Thank You.
This is just one of my “mother’s stress”. I stress about how clean my house is, I stress about having to clean my house, I stress when my house is not clean. It really doesn’t matter what it is – I stress. True to the Wagner stress test report – I am a Worry Wart. I admit it. But it is my honest belief that 90% of the time I am realistically stressing about something. (My Husband might disagree).
I leave to pick my daughter up from school 45 mins early even though the trip is just 5 mins because it takes me 5 minutes to find my car keys, 15 minutes to convince my toddler to get into the car and another 15 mins to get him out of the car at the school gate.
I envy the parent that gets 5 minutes to unwind without the need of alcohol. If wine had no calories, I am sure it would easily become my nightly ritual. The only thing that stops me is health reasons. I would like to find another way to manage my stress. Getting a good nights sleep no longer rejuvenates me, sure it give me more energy to get through my crazy day but it doesn’t leave me feeling revitalized. Is that even possible?
I do know that I don’t like this overwhelmed emotional state I seem to live in. It is exhausting.(More than in need of a good night’s sleep exhausted).
So how stressed do you have to be before it is no longer normal? If you take the Wagner Stress test you will get a feel for what is normal. But best of all you will also go into the draw to win some much needed ME time. There is 1 holiday to a health retreat at Gwinganna on the Goldcoast or 1 of 10 Endota Spa Vouchers.
This is a sponsored post for Wagner Health and Digital Parents Collective.
Guess I can’t win anything because I am not on facebook.
I think ‘mummy stress’ is inevitable with kids, especially preschoolers! I need to leave for the school pick-up early as well as my 4yo and I are guaranteed to have an argument about wearing shoes. That’s before wrangling the 18 month old! Nothing is ever easy and its always hard to find the time to invest in yourself to help you better deal with the chaos that is life with kids. That health retreat holiday is what dreams are made of! *clicking over to FB now* 🙂