How to be a Positive Mom during Hard Times

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You know the crazy times – you’re burnt out, the car breaks down, the vacuum cleaner breaks, your husband loses his job, you dig a deeper debt hole buying take outs because you don’t have time to cook… what things make you feel crazy?

It’s easy to slowly revert to feeling hopeless, pessimistic and emotional when something BIG disrupts your sense of normal; so how do we keep a positive mindset when things aren’t easy?

KEEPING POSITIVE IN HARD TIMES

A few things to guard in your life, to help keep optimistic:

Guard your thought life!

Where your thoughts go, so does your mind, your mood and your words.. your thoughts are powerful and affect what you ponder on daily . They affect your view of circumstances and life. So grab negative thoughts as they start, challenge them and be proactive about making a change.

Negative thought: “I just can’t keep up with all this housework” can easily lead you to feeling burnt out and overwhelmed.

Challenge it: Is this true? Is there any time-wasting activity I’m doing that’s actually taking away from me managing all I have to do around the home? Can I cut down on social media time, or can I drop a weekly activity, or shorten it, and reschedule my housework activities?

Proactive step: Take twenty minutes to write down a housework task list if you don’t already have one, as well as time wasters you can focus on reducing, and look at how you can better manage your time and tasks. When you see things scheduled, it’s often easier to see what needs to be done, and when. This will give you an objective view of it all. Sometimes being subjective and reacting to whatever task needs to be done, feels overwhelming, like you are always playing ‘catch up’. It can be made simple!

Revise your negative thought: A schedule and wise time management will help you feel a lot more in control of housework. The next time you have that negative thought, immediately replace it with “No, I actually can keep on top of all this housework. This schedule rocks, I’ve got this!”

CHANGE “I CAN’T” INTO “I CAN” AND PRETTY SOON YOU WILL SAY “I DID” – Unknown

What challenges in your life can  you look at differently? What negative thoughts can you rewrite?

Get some objectivity & plan

TAKE TIME TO BE OBJECTIVE AND STRATEGIZE WITH YOUR SPOUSE

I don’t know about you, but often, especially when I spend a lot of time apart from my husband, I make mountains out of molehills. I conjure up crazy images of the future, of how problems will escalate and how the world will END. I can’t see ways out of issues, and I get over emotional. And then I sit down with my husband, and a logical chat about everything will make me realise that he has fantastic insights and answers.. to everything. I’m grateful for his logical mind. It helps to tackle issues together, as a team.

So: talk about issues! About how to repair the broken car, juggle a second job or afford to pay some unexpected medical bills. Whatever the issue, it helps to be objective and look at the problem together and come up with a solution. A problem shared is a problem halved. Sometimes all we need to get calm and feel in control of crazy situations, is a bit of objectivity and a partner to plan a solution with 🙂

DEAR PROBLEMS, I WON’T STAND THERE AND COMPLAIN ABOUT YOU, I’LL SOLVE YOU AND KEEP MOVING” – Unknown

Guarding my thoughts, changing negative thoughts into positive, empowering thoughts and planning solutions to our problems are my top plans of action when I feel myself beginning to drown in negativity, in crazy times. What’s key for me is keeping positive and being proactive about the way forward.

What do you do to manage hard times? What works best for you? I’d love to hear your tips in the comments below!