Being a parent is the most magical thing in the world. However, there’s no doubt that it brings with it a relentless workload and at times can feel incredibly overwhelming. Parenting is a big responsibility and brings with it a considerable amount of stress. From tackling all the everyday tasks involved in raising children to the heavy mental load of making decisions on what’s best for your kids parenting can be a pressurized task.
As a parent, your focus is likely to be almost exclusively on providing your kids with the best childhood possible, while encouraging your kids to thrive and grow. This often means that there’s very little time left over to focus on yourself. Putting everyone else before yourself may seem like the right thing to do when you’re responsible for others. However, it’s also crucial to carve out some time to take care of your own needs.
Battling to get through days that are filled with cooking, cleaning, helping with homework, driving the kids to their various activities, and everything else that’s involved with being a parent can be super stressful. Finding ways to reduce this stress can be challenging when you’re short of time. However, it’s vital that you carve out a little time just for yourself. Feeling constantly under pressure and rushing around can lead to chronic stress, and this can have negative implications for your health. Below, you’ll find some simple ways to keep your stress levels low that should fit easily into even the busiest of schedules.
Play Games
If you find it hard to switch off even when you do get ten minutes to yourself, it’s helpful to find a way to take your mind away from the million and one thoughts going through your mind. Playing online games, such as backgammon, can be an excellent way to de-stress.
When you’re playing online games, you can focus simply on what you are doing in that moment. This can be a great way to escape your endless mental to-do list and to switch off for a little while. Playing games online means you can access them on your phone whenever you get five minutes to yourself. So, online games can provide a quick opportunity to de-stress and relax fast.
Step Outside
The benefits of being surrounded by nature are often discussed. In fact, many studies have found that spending time in green spaces or by the water can have a significant positive impact on your mental health and well-being. Nothing beats the feeling of stepping out into the fresh air and enjoying time spent around nature. The good news is that you don’t need to live on a ranch or in the middle of a rural location to enjoy all the benefits of being outdoors. You can enjoy the powerful impact of nature on your mental health simply by spending time in your own backyard or visiting the local park.
You don’t need to carve out some child-free time to de-stress in nature. Instead, why not make it a family activity? Gathering the kids together to play outside in the yard, or taking a trip to the local park so the kids can run around and burn off some energy is the perfect way to combine quality family time with reducing your own stress levels.
Learn Mindfulness
One final way to reduce your stress levels as a busy parent is to learn mindfulness techniques. Mindfulness is deceptively simple, as it costs nothing, and is easy to do once you know how, but is actually incredibly powerful.
Mindfulness involves learning to bring your attention into the present moment, which is especially helpful in time of intense stress. By focusing on the moment, you can start to let all those thoughts racing through your mind simply come and go without getting caught up in them. This can be really helpful if you often find yourself worrying about the future or your thoughts becoming stuck in the past.
Taking time to simply breathe and bring your attention to the here and now can be incredibly powerful during times when you’re feeling overwhelmed by how much you need to do. Mindfulness provides the space you need to let go of these feelings and return to your day with a fresh perspective.
As you can see, there are many simple ways to reduce your stress levels as a busy parent. The great news is that they’re all free to do and fit easily into the busiest of schedules.
