At Busy Mothers we know how hard it is to juggle a family.  As a mum you spend your whole life looking after everyone in your family - partner, children, relatives, even pets.  You often put your needs at the bottom of a very long list because you are the mum. 

However Busy Mothers believe you need to look after yourself also.  Sometimes you just need to let go.  Here are some strategies to help you do just that!

Letting Go Strategies

Letting go can help us to create the freedom and energy to commit to the people and activities that are really important in our lives.

Under promise.  Instead of telling people that you can do X, Y or Z or that you can do something in one week let them know that you can only promise to do X or finish it in two weeks.  The truth is you may be able to do more or finish earlier and if you do everyone will think you are wonderful, whereas if you over promise and then can’t come up with the goods you stress yourself out and let yourself and others down.

Put everything on the table and let it be up for grabs.  At the start of each school term or change of season, have a conference with the family.  At this conference detail the commitments that everyone in the family has (work, sport, community, hobbies, voluntary work etc.) and then decide if you absolutely have to do everything or if  there some things you can let go of for the term.  Sometimes we continue to do things simply because we have always done them, not because we really need to do them.  You might find the kids actually don’t want to do ballet or soccer anymore.

Under commit yourself.  Have a good look at how many committees, activities etc. you are involved in and ask yourself, do I really need to do all of these?  Maybe commit to a few less so that you can really put your energies into them rather than spreading yourself too thin.

Prioritise. Look at all the jobs that you have to do and list them in order of most important to least important.  Start with the most important ones and if you can, let go of some of the least important ones.  Ask yourself, if I don’t do this task will it really matter?

Let someone else help you out. Are there jobs that you are currently undertaking that are not the best use of your time, that would be better done by someone else?  Can you afford to let someone else do the ironing for you, or pay someone to mow the lawns?  Do you have a family member or friend that you know has offered to help you  (mind the kids for an hour, or help you sort out your things) but you don’t want to bother them.  Why not ask for help?  They will feel good for helping you and you will feel great for getting some extra help.

Remember be kind to yourself.  Look after YOU!  You deserve it.