Stress Relief Tips?
March 23rd, 2010 | by Anthony |Corgis4Life asked:
I’m a stay at home mom to two beautiful children… one of which is ADHD/ODD (oppsitional Defiance Disorder, and yes, he’s a BIG handful. I have a very high stress tolerance anc I love my children, but tonight I’m wore down to the bone, nearly at my boiling point. My son is 4 years old and because of his issues he wakes up all night (much like a baby does) and get extremely angry if I tell him to just go back to sleep, so I usually have to fight him, so I’m wore out from that, plus I have a high stress marriage to an over the road truck driver (whom is also giving me alot of stress from verbal abuse and such yes, and I’m working on seperating from him). My kids have been an absolute mess for me today, (not listening, fighting with eachother and such) I cook, clean (and clean again), do laundry, and run errands, and all the other stuff I should be doing…. but I just want some stress reliving tips that works for people… the kids are FINALLY in bed, and I just want to unwind….
I need some home tips… I can’t afford a massage or spa or anything like that, I’m poor haha, so I need something (other than a hot bath) hich I plan on doing later to relieve stress, I’m SO tense! I need some ideas to get my mind off my daily life and to be able to focus on me, a little after dealing with kids since 5 AM this morning… life was rough today, and I just want to know what works for other people to get the stress monkey off your back… thanks in advance.
RHEBA
5 Responses to “Stress Relief Tips?”
By bonny h on Mar 25, 2010 | Reply
When I’m that stressed, I usually make myself a warm cup of tea/hot chocolate (no coffee, it will make you jittery) and curl up with it and watch a movie or read a book.
A hot bubble bath would help as well. I normally put epsom salts in and I use little kid bubble bath, because it foams up the best.
By Renae S on Mar 26, 2010 | Reply
what i do when i am stressed is have a hot bath with some lavender in it.That always works 4 me.sometimes even a hot milk or a hot chocolate
By mom 12 on Mar 27, 2010 | Reply
Well as a mom of twelve I”ve gotten plenty of those days too. I take a long warm shower and try to close everyone out for a little while. the older ones have learned when I get that upset I say I’m going to my room so I don’t keep yelling. We’ll talk about everything else later. I try to get a funny movie so I can laugh. And most importantly I pray Gods helps me get through cause he promises not to give us more than we can handle. And tomorrow Try doing something fun with the kids even if it’s the park it will help them which in turn will help you. My husband has a saying if mom isn’t happy then no one is happy. You’ve probably been in allot and doing just what needs to be done. take tomorrow off just for fun.!
By Ana on Mar 28, 2010 | Reply
Hi! Whenever I get to the boiling point, I usually take a hot shower or escape to the basement to do laundry and to shut things off for a while. Sometimes calling a girlfriend helps me to distract myself from issues. I don’t tell my friends that I am upset or about anything personal, it just gets me in a different mood to talk to another adult. I go out each week with a friend and the kids stay in the daycare for a few hours. That is the only time that they stay with a sitter or in daycare is when I go out.
My husband is deployed and in Iraq. Things are not going well where he is at, and I am always worried if I don’t hear from him for a while. This is a major reason why sometimes I get so upset. Its hard being strong for kids all the time.
For you, I would just count my blessings and do the best you can. Get out and do something once in a while. That really makes things better. There are always free events in the community and things to do, but you have to look for it and plan ahead for it.
As for your son getting up all night, I can’t tell you a sure strategy for dealing with that. But I can tell you that watching the Supernanny has helped me a lot and given me better ways of parenting my kids. If he is getting up in the night constantly, then he has some security issues probably. My daughter went through a phase of that when her dad was first gone for a long time. I believe it was because she felt secure with dad and when he isn’t there she was upset and scared. I ended up letting her sleep in my bed. It’s the only way I could help her feel safe and to sleep well. It’s just one of those things you have to see what works and what doesn’t because every kid is different.
Do you spend time with your children individually? That can help things tremendously by just giving them special times of the day and doing certain things just the two of you. For example, I play dolls with my daughter in the morning and read books just for her before she goes to sleep. With my son, I play ball with him 20 minutes a day and also we have special play times just the two of us.
Another thing is that my kids do better when I take them out to the museum or to a kids restaurant once a week. I try to do an outing with them just once and usually let them pick out a cheap toy once in a while. You don’t have to spend a lot of money, and the museums usually have a family day when they give free admission once in a while. Also the radio or local news will inform people about free stuff to do. With military life, its quite different here and activities are more for our community but I know for a fact that there is always something new you can do.
I got myself a manicure kit with the nail dryer and the drills that file your nails. When I need to relax, I try to give myself a good pedicure or manicure. Sometimes I also take out the hot rollers and fix my hair and make up. Its free and it makes you feel better about yourself. I watch some of those makeover programs and try different ideas that they have about fashion and beauty. Also I go to the library every two weeks or so and get myself a new novel to read. It helps put me in another world and clears my head. And its perfect because when you go to the library you can get a bunch of books for your kids too at the same time. Also look for coupons and things in the paper so you can take the kids out to eat sometimes even if its fast food. At least they can get out a little bit too. Sometimes when I have nothing else to do or no money in which to do it, I just go to Wal-Mart or Target and window shop. Hope I helped you.
By Mark T on Mar 30, 2010 | Reply
The method for stress management which I am going to show you below is actually a combination of two methods; a regular deep breathing exercise and Jacobsen’s Progressive. Both are proven relaxation exercises and by combining them they function even better. These relaxation techniques can help you reduce tension in your muscles as well as manage the effects of the fight-or-flight response on your body - link when you feel you are about to get overwhelmed by panic. In a situation where you have to perform by thinking clearly under pressure, this relaxing exercise is really great. Here is what you do:
1. Sit down comfortably in a way that enables you to relax.
2. While you focus your body on relaxation take a series (10, 20 or even more) of deep breaths. For each breath you take, try to relax your body even more.
3. Tense up the muscles of both your hands maximally, make a fist and hold this tension for five seconds.
4. From the state of maximum tension, relax your hand’s muscles to the state they were in before you tensed them.
5. Focus on your hand muscles and try to relax them even further so that you are as relaxed as possible.
6. Repeat step 3 to 5 but instead of your hands muscles, now concentrate on the following parts of your body in sequenze: your feet, your legs and tighs, your arms, your ****** and stomach, your back and finally your neck and head’s muscles.
The idea is that you’ll probably be able to relax your muscles more by tensing them first, than you would if you just relaxed your muscles directly. You can also repeat the deep breathing steps in between the tensing / relaxation of the muscles of your different body parts.