We all have those days when we feel absolutely frazzled because our children have taken it out of us. As amazing as it is to spend time baking and interacting with them, you may want to think about time away so you can properly recharge. For most parents, this means when their kids have gone to sleep. When they go to sleep, this usually means that they can scroll through social media, put the TV on, and just vegetate. And while there is nothing wrong with this, you’ve got to make sure that you recharge in the right ways, so what can you do?
Choose One Practice That Really Relaxes You
Relaxation, when done right, is going to help balance out any negative things that occurred throughout the day. Whether you felt overwhelmed because your children were too hyper or you didn’t sleep properly, you need to find the right thing to make you feel like you can actually unwind. The fact is that this could be having some THCO or having five minutes of meditation, whatever works, it’s entirely up to you! But you’ve got to make sure that it really does bring out that relaxation response; that one where you just can’t keep your eyes open.
Limit Your Information Intake Before Bed
Some people may feel that when their children go to bed, it’s now time for them to catch up on the things that matter to them. But if you are reading the news before you go to sleep or you’re going on social media, the fact is that you could benefit from having less information because you need to keep calm in the run-up to sleep. Because if you read about the financial crisis or those concerns that have been at the back of your mind you are going to make these issues worse. If you really need to check information, it’s far better to do it during the day. When it comes to information gathering, less is definitely more.
Understand Your Limits
We can all feel overwhelmed, which is why we need to retreat on occasion. And it’s important to keep those boundaries. So let the important people in your life know that you are feeling overwhelmed, so you just need a few minutes of quiet and relaxation. There’s no point in feeling guilty that you need this, especially when the children have gone to sleep.
Do Some Meditation
Not everybody can get on board with meditation, but it comes in many different forms. If you just like listening to relaxing music, you can easily put your headphones on and can start unwinding. There are other ways for you to do it, such as deep breathing. Deep breathing doesn’t take long to do and is a way to stimulate your parasympathetic nervous system, the relaxation response.
Recharging is so important because if we do not do it properly when our children wake up (whether at night or the next day), we are already starting with an energy deficit. When we feel overwhelmed or stressed, this is when we make mistakes or say things to our children that we don’t mean or regret. As soon as your kids go to sleep, even if you have five minutes, it’s important to jump on this!