Why do so many new mothers know precisely what "mom burnout" means? What are the signs of mom burnout? How to prevent this condition or bounce back quickly when you find yourself trapped in it? Discover the answers in our post!
Why Does Mom Burnout Happen?
Mom Burnout Symptoms
1. You don’t properly care about your health
Obviously, you realize that your health is important, and you probably use high-quality products for your hygiene, e.g., the best postpartum pads. However, good food, exercise, and sleep just aren’t happening in today’s busy life. You may forget to eat, or you don’t sleep well. You may either deal with insomnia or sleep too much but still feel exhausted. And, of course, you don’t exercise at all. Sounds familiar? Plus, if you feel sluggish and weak all the time, most likely, it’s mom burnout.
Practicing sports with things like weighted jump rope or the best cheap treadmill can be super energizing and make you feel much better.
You know what you should do! Take up your healthy habits again; they are a fuel you need to keep going strong. You have to eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, and have regular check-ups with your doctor. Yes, it won’t be that easy, but you still need to do it for your personal wellbeing!
2. Frequent Yelling Break-out
We all have been there and know that some situations really drive you crazy, especially if you have to juggle multiple duties like work, parenting, and house chores. And when someone becomes a troublemaker, you can alert the entire neighborhood!
However, if such a scenario happens too often and you go into the full-on fit-mode 9 times out of 10, that’s a good reason to stop, take a nice deep breath, and think. It is probably that you are overstressed and are headed for working mom burnout. When you’re stressed, you become far more touchy, that’s why you yell so frequently.
Instead of letting stressful situations fester, learn to deal with them quickly to keep them from affecting other areas of your life.
3. Too much clutter around
Don’t get us wrong! We aren’t going to judge or shame you for how your place looks!
However, if you don’t have somebody who can help you with the house chores, your usual cleaning schedule is broken, and you feel overwhelmed when looking at all the mess, you may experience single mom burnout.
The right solution here is to take a day off from all cleaning. It would help you to rest physically and mentally from it. The key idea here is to stop even thinking about it; this will help you to recharge and bounce back from mom burnout.
4. You feel lonely but don’t want to connect with your friends or family
Whether your child is healthy or has special needs, you may feel overwhelmed with tons of problems. It’s easy to get sucked into a cycle of depression and isolation. You can tell yourself, “No one else has gone through what I’m going through”. For example, mommies who raise kids with autism often feel vulnerable and depressed; that’s the way to autism mom burnout.
However, as we mentioned above, healthy kids’ mothers can feel the same way, too. For various reasons, they let the shame of the situation keep them on an island with no one to talk to but the judgmental inner voice.
The right solution here is to reach out to friends, family, or psychologist and be honest about where you are – that’s extremely important!
And remember, you’re not alone! Thousands of women experience struggle with friendships after becoming a mom, too! Reach out and make an effort to connect – it’s the first step in halting stay at home mom burnout mode.
How to Bounce Back Quickly
Although almost every mom experiences burnout, there are simple-to-follow rules to help you overcome this trouble. If you make practicing them a part of your life, you’ll even be able to eliminate mom burnout.
- Use help as much as possible – ask your partner or other family members to help you with kids or house chores. Utilize paid help, e.g., babysitter, cleaning service, or a tutor in case you suffer from homeschool mom burnout.
- Take the breaks – go on a date with your partner, go to the movies with your friends, go shopping, etc. You are worthy of spending time and money on yourself, so, do something to have fun and relax.
- Move your body, exercise more – to bounce back from mom burnout, prioritize your physical health; you need fresh air and exercise the same as your kids.
- Congratulate yourself on the thousands of tasks you manage to do day by day, instead of blaming yourself for not handling your truly impossible to-do list.
The simple fact that you are reading this post should tell you that you are a great, caring mom who just needs a bit of help. All you need is to follow our recommendations. However, if you don’t get better, see your physician and psychologist, speak to your partner, family, and friends.
Please, think about it and take care of yourself. You are important, too.
Rachel Burns
Rachel Burns is an experienced copywriter and photographer with a design diploma. She works with startups, entrepreneurs, bloggers and companies from around the world. In addition to writing articles and promotional materials, she enjoys hiking, reading, cooking and spending time with her family.