6 Realistic Stress Relievers For Busy Moms

While being a mom is rewarding in so many ways, almost all moms report feeling stressed and overwhelmed most days of the week.

What’s even more annoying is that high amounts of stress are directly linked to so many women struggling with weight loss. When you’re under a high amount of stress, it can cause you to be more bloated, your metabolism to slow down, and increases the release of cortisol in your body.

So it’s important to create daily habits and routines around slowing down, feeling what you need to feel, and overall working on your mental health.

Below are 6 realistic stress relievers for busy mamas wanting to feel less overwhelmed, lose weight, and feel happier every day!

6 Realistic Stress Relievers For Busy Moms

Before we dive into some habits you can start to incorporate, I want to quickly mention that it’s important to look at your current routine.

• What does it feel like when stress and overwhelm is coming on?
• What times of the day are you most stressed and overwhelmed?
• What specifically triggers you to feel this way?

Take some time with these questions. Think them through… journal them out. Understanding the source of how you’re feeling, what it feels like, and what the daily patterns are will allow you to see where you need to adjust your days specifically and where habits should be added to prevent stress flare-ups!

Now, let’s get to some specific stress relievers you can add to your day.

Also, don’t be shocked some of these stress relievers are EASY and well-known. Remember that creating a healthy lifestyle isn’t complicated and it’s mostly about you following through with simple daily habits!!

1. Schedule time to slow down every day or even use as an SOS

Moms are notorious for go-go-going all day long for everyone else and we almost wear it as a badge of honor. Really though, it’s not cute and so unhealthy. Right before you typically feel the most stressed out every day, schedule even just 5 minutes to slow down.

Close your eyes, take slow deep breaths, relax your mind, and stop planning/doing.

Even put in headphones with relaxation music if you cannot escape your littles for a few minutes. Make this NORMAL for your babies to see so you can even teach them how important it is to slow down.

While having stress relievers planned is the best way — you can also use this as an SOS when needed at any time!

2. Listen to podcasts every day that improve your mindset in some way

If you haven’t jumped on the podcast train yet — you NEED TO! It’s such a ninja move for moms since our schedules are so packed since you can habit stack with it. You can listen to podcasts when working out, getting ready, cleaning, driving, shopping, etc. Basically, anything that doesn’t require your full mental attention.

Look for podcasts that are helping you improve in some way mentally to create more peace and happiness in your life. These could be self-help, healthy lifestyle, parenting, spiritual/religious, etc… anything that is going to assist you in moving the needle in your life and giving you solutions/positive habit ideas!

3. Brain dump journal and get your feeling out

Ok ok ok… I know you might have tried journaling before and feel like it didn’t work, you couldn’t stick to it, or it was too much in some way. But, trust me… it’s life-changing once you find out what journaling strategy works for you.

The one I recommend most is brain dumping for 2-3 pages at a time and writing fast/sloppy/illegible so your pen can keep up with the frequency of your thoughts. It’s not about being able to read the words on your page, but getting all the stress feelings and junk out of your head and onto paper.

Just start writing and go with whatever comes to mind. You’ll not only be shocked to realize what’s stressing you most, but usually your brain will come up with solutions as you go without you even trying to.

4. Get outside for some fresh air and to connect with nature

Don’t discount how incredible it is to simply get outside, breathe the fresh air, and connect with the earth. Whether you’re grounding your bare feet in the ground, lying in the grass looking at the sky, or going for a walk/bike ride… being outside can be an incredible stress reliever.

Plus, it’s a free activity that your kids are able to join in with you so you can add these activities whenever the weather permits! Obviously though, if you can find time to do it in solitude that’ll be best for you mentally. You can walk and listen to a podcast or just take time to take deep breaths and appreciate everything around you.

5. Schedule activities you truly love to do!

A flaw of many moms is we tend to focus so much on our kids and keeping them happy that we often forget to do what lights us up. Reflect on that for a moment… What do you truly love to do and how can you schedule 1 or more of these every day?

Whether you can spare just 5 minutes or a half-hour sometimes, it’s important to remember you’re here in this life to be HAPPY and ENJOY LIFE! So, be careful to catch yourself when you’re stuck in the mundane routine of to-dos and taking care of everyone else all day. What do YOU need to feel lit up? Do more of those things daily.

6. Delegate and negate on the regular

Although this is my final tip for this post, this might be the most important for all of us super moms who think we need to do it all. We need to stop with that mindset. You don’t have to do it all and really… you shouldn’t.

Take time to brain dump lists of what you have to do daily, weekly, monthly, etc.

What activities can you cross off? What doesn’t align with the life you want? If you can’t completely cut out an activity you dread, can you delegate it to someone else and ask for help?

I know there are many activities we have to put our mom pants on for and just grind through (and I suggest finding some way to make it enjoyable and shift your mindset around it!). But, usually there are people we can ask for help from or make it their new “to-do” instead of yours.

There are plenty of other stress-relieving tips, but I am going to leave you with these 6 today because there is a lot you can work with here! Again, these aren’t mind-blowing. But, they work and if you start to implement one or more I promise you’ll start to feel and see some shifts in yourself.

I cannot end this without mentioning I 100% recommend therapy for everyone! That can be one of the best tools you can implement weekly for your mental health so you can show up as your best self for not only you, but your family, too.

Let me know if these tips were helpful for you!