When you become a work at home mom, you do it with all the right reasons in mind. You want to spend more time with your children and be a more active presence in their most formative years. Working from home gives you plenty of family time, so you don’t have to rely on babysitters or daycares to take care of your children. In fact, working from home – and cutting out the cost of that daycare – might actually be cheaper than what you were doing before.
But with all the benefits that working from home can bring, it can also bring a unique kind of stress. You can start to feel stifled by your job and your place as a stay at home mom. You can start to resent the lack of time you have for yourself and envy those who have the opportunity to each lunch out with colleagues every day. You can start to miss adult conversation, the daily latte from the corner shop, and the interaction that comes from working in an office somewhere other than your home.
The best way to avoid the work at home burnout is to make sure your schedule includes lots of time for you, too. Having time to relax and unwind is not a luxury: It’s a necessity. A clear head and a relaxed mindset can mean the difference between a very good day and a rotten one. When you are relaxed and happy, you get more work done. You are also more available to your children and able to spend more time with them.
Look into time management issues and decide what you need to do about them. Are you stressed out and don’t feel like cooking, but it’s almost dinnertime and you haven’t planned a single thing? That’s one of the areas you can improve! Invest in a few slow cookers and plan meals in advance. If you can afford to stock the freezer with convenience foods for those times when you are just too tired to throw anything together, do it. The little bit of extra money spent is worth the extra hour of relaxation.
Get out and away from the house from time to time. Plan on an occasional lunch date with an old friend or meet your sister for coffee once a week. You have to have time to recharge in the “adult” world. Spending time with your peers will make you much happier and you will approach working from home with a new determination and resolve.
Finally, make a list of the reasons you chose to stay at home in the first place. Look at that list every time you start to feel stressed or overwhelmed. What you are doing is not easy, but it’s worthwhile…and any stay at home mom will tell you that you will be glad you made this choice!
You must log in to post a comment.