How to Create Balance
Being a mom is a 24 hour, 7 day a week job. Whether you stay home, go to work, or work from home, it is hard. We put our family first, our careers second, and ourselves dead last. But it is important to find balance and create boundaries.
For working moms, have separate work and personal cell phones. You can get your work done sooner (and more efficiently) by refusing to answer personal calls during work hours (besides the obvious emergencies). At home, you can focus on yourself and your family by turning off the work phone.
Same goes for emails. With the technology right at our fingertips, we easily get sucked into checking our email throughout the day. Having separate email accounts allows you to check work emails at work, personal emails at home.
While talking about your day is important in keeping you and your partner connected, making it the only topic of conversation isn’t good either. Put a cap on ‘shop talk,’ 20 minutes for you, 20 minutes for your partner, and wait until the kids are asleep.
Work from home? Keep a separate work area. Being as far removed from your living space as possible helps keep your mind on work and not household chores.
Set work hours to let family members know when you’re off-limits. Make a sign for a subtle reminder.
Take half an hour for yourself. Go outside for a quick walk or coffee break, leave the phone behind, and don’t use this time as chore time just you time.
Stay-at-home moms start saying ‘no’. You’ll be a better mom if you put yourself first so take me-time. Go to lunch with friends, go to the gym, or take a walk by yourself.
Create bedtimes and stick to them. It is important to have a set bedtime (even if your kids are older, having reading or relaxing time in their rooms before bed) so you get your undisturbed time every night.
More things you might like:
Breastfeeding for the Working Mom
Cute and Cheap Ways to Organize Your Desk
The image featured at the top of this post is ©iStock.com/Urilux.