Raising children at the same time you are working outside the home as well as working inside the home doing everything both indoors and out will change chronic stress into acute stress.
Prolonged acute stress is dangerous.
The brain under acute stress does not function properly.
This means that for everyone's well-being, you must find ways to decrease and control your stress.
No, getting rid of the kids is not an option! I'm pretty sure that you are thinking that if you knew how to reduce your stress you would.
I understand the sentiment! I've been there and done that.
It isn't easy, I know.
But it is doable.
I will be giving you 9 or 10 different ways that have been proven to reduce stress-but not all today.
Over the course of the next couple weeks, I will give you one tip in each article.
One at a time is enough to handle.
There is no definite order to these other than with a couple that are best if done relatively soon.
What these tips do share is that they are all "brain-friendly" which means that they are the result of sound research into the functioning of the brain.
It is the same research that has shown us that a brain under acute stress does not function properly.
This is as true for your children as it is for you.
If you are functioning under acute stress, so are your children.
All the more reason to lessen your stress! Today's Tip: Set Realistic Goals The ability the set realistic goals is important for everyone all the time, but for right now, I'm talking about survival goals.
Being realistic is a huge part of that.
Set realistic goals and applaud yourself as you accomplish them.
In the beginning, you are not going to be able to get your house spotless, and the yard work done, and get the kids bathed and dressed before work, and get all meals ready, etc.
You know you can't do all of that right now so don't make it a goal.
Goals need to be realistic and attainable.
Break your day into manageable chunks.
There are long-term goals (I will finish college), medium-term goals (I will get to the grocery this weekend), and short-term goals and often these are very short-term.
For example: One "special" school year I was given every low-level math class our high school had.
All of these classes were difficult to handle in terms of classroom management, but one particular class had many students I suspect ended up in prison.
(It sounds like a joke, but it isn't.
I didn't find out until after school was over that one of these students was at our school because he stabbed a teacher at his previous school.
) I woke up each day dreading to go to school, and as that period of the day approached I developed a headache and/or an upset stomach.
I was not a new teacher, although I was newly divorced and living in a new state with two teenagers.
Every night I found myself thinking, "How am I ever going to survive this year?" Fortunately, I took a class early in the school year in which the instructor talked about short-term goals in difficult situations.
The suggestion was to pick a time I felt I could survive and say to myself, "I can do this for 45 more minutes," If that time period was too long, shorten it.
I honestly spent that school year during that one period saying over and over "I can do this for 5 more minutes.
" And I found I could deal with them in 5 minute segments; and pretty soon it was Thanksgiving, then Winter Break, then Spring Vacation, and suddenly the school year was over and I had survived.
For right now, start thinking about some longer-term goals you would really like to achieve, 1 or 2 medium-term goals you can start working toward, and for daily survival, start thinking in terms of "I can do this for ___ more minutes.
" Then repeat.
Prolonged acute stress is dangerous.
The brain under acute stress does not function properly.
This means that for everyone's well-being, you must find ways to decrease and control your stress.
No, getting rid of the kids is not an option! I'm pretty sure that you are thinking that if you knew how to reduce your stress you would.
I understand the sentiment! I've been there and done that.
It isn't easy, I know.
But it is doable.
I will be giving you 9 or 10 different ways that have been proven to reduce stress-but not all today.
Over the course of the next couple weeks, I will give you one tip in each article.
One at a time is enough to handle.
There is no definite order to these other than with a couple that are best if done relatively soon.
What these tips do share is that they are all "brain-friendly" which means that they are the result of sound research into the functioning of the brain.
It is the same research that has shown us that a brain under acute stress does not function properly.
This is as true for your children as it is for you.
If you are functioning under acute stress, so are your children.
All the more reason to lessen your stress! Today's Tip: Set Realistic Goals The ability the set realistic goals is important for everyone all the time, but for right now, I'm talking about survival goals.
Being realistic is a huge part of that.
Set realistic goals and applaud yourself as you accomplish them.
In the beginning, you are not going to be able to get your house spotless, and the yard work done, and get the kids bathed and dressed before work, and get all meals ready, etc.
You know you can't do all of that right now so don't make it a goal.
Goals need to be realistic and attainable.
Break your day into manageable chunks.
There are long-term goals (I will finish college), medium-term goals (I will get to the grocery this weekend), and short-term goals and often these are very short-term.
For example: One "special" school year I was given every low-level math class our high school had.
All of these classes were difficult to handle in terms of classroom management, but one particular class had many students I suspect ended up in prison.
(It sounds like a joke, but it isn't.
I didn't find out until after school was over that one of these students was at our school because he stabbed a teacher at his previous school.
) I woke up each day dreading to go to school, and as that period of the day approached I developed a headache and/or an upset stomach.
I was not a new teacher, although I was newly divorced and living in a new state with two teenagers.
Every night I found myself thinking, "How am I ever going to survive this year?" Fortunately, I took a class early in the school year in which the instructor talked about short-term goals in difficult situations.
The suggestion was to pick a time I felt I could survive and say to myself, "I can do this for 45 more minutes," If that time period was too long, shorten it.
I honestly spent that school year during that one period saying over and over "I can do this for 5 more minutes.
" And I found I could deal with them in 5 minute segments; and pretty soon it was Thanksgiving, then Winter Break, then Spring Vacation, and suddenly the school year was over and I had survived.
For right now, start thinking about some longer-term goals you would really like to achieve, 1 or 2 medium-term goals you can start working toward, and for daily survival, start thinking in terms of "I can do this for ___ more minutes.
" Then repeat.
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