Create a Mom Sanity Plan
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I love being a mom. I love the laughter, the snuggles, and guiding my children on this journey through life. It was a journey I prayed for and I waited for many years to hold a baby of my own. {You can read our miracle adoption story here}. Motherhood is one of life’s greatest blessings!
As much as I cherish the opportunity to be a parent, I’m going to be completely honest and say there are moments when I am overwhelmed and stressed by the daunting task of child rearing and finding balance in the chaos.
In April of 2013, this stress culminated and I reached a breaking point. I realized I had lost myself in my role as a mother and I had no idea who I was outside of my children.
Inside I felt encroached by mom guilt, wondering how I could even think of or focus on myself when the biggest blessing in my life was my children. I loved my kids and wanted to be the best mom I could be, but I could no longer deny I was burnt out, weary to the core, and in need of change.
I started praying that God would show me how to not just survive, but to thrive as a mom.
As always, God was faithful to lead me to a plan to take back my identity while being the best mom I could be.
He was gracious to open my eyes and remove the mom guilt. Eventually I created a “Mom Sanity Plan” to help me live my life resting in His joy and peace.
Below are the simple questions I used to create my plan and this helped me move towards change. An honest evaluation is sometimes exactly what the heart needs to grow and change!
Now it’s your turn for self evaluation. Are you ready? Print out the free printable below to work through these areas of your life.
Grab the printable here >>
https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B9b5u-KkGOUQd1p6TDQzV0ZCU2s/view?usp=sharing
Identify the stressors
What areas in your life trigger stress and feelings of being overwhelmed? Are there situations, roles, responsibilities, people even, that trigger your stress? Be completely honest with yourself and take a moment to jot down what gets under your skin on the free printable.
My stressors included: a cluttered house, being overweight, whining children, not enough rest, and no ministry outside of my family.
Identify what you love to do and what brings you joy
What would you like to do with free time? What makes you happy and feel like you? Is there a hobby or an interest you’ve missed doing since becoming a mom? Finish the following statement, “I would get really excited if…”
My loves includes: sharing my heart in a ministry, reading, spending time with family and friends, studying God’s Word, an occasional DIY project, and of course, writing.
Identify what keeps you balanced
What keeps you feeling sane and life flowing well? Is there something you can do to make yourself less stressed? Are there ways you can stop those feelings of angst when they creep up?
My balanced life includes: keeping up with the clutter but not being a perfectionist about it, getting enough rest, eating healthy, exercising, studying God’s Word and writing about His promises.
Embrace change so you can thrive
What changes do you need to make to move towards better balance? What can you change to minimize the stressors and restore balance? Do you need to shift priorities or make adjustments to your routine? Are there daily actions you can implement to eliminate the situations that bring you stress?
My changes: start exercising and eating healthy, keep the clutter at bay, pray that God would lead me to a ministry, have time in God’s Word every day, make time to do the things I love.
Take action
Now that you’ve answered these important questions, it’s time to take action and make a plan to implement changes according to your personal needs. Focus on gradual change that will lead to a lifetime of healthy habits and mom sanity.
Pick one or two areas of change you want to see, and start small, giving yourself loads of grace when you stumble and fall.
Each day, commit to small steps that will implement change gradually over time.
Each day get up, spend time in God’s Word, pray and then tackle your most difficult challenge first. It feels amazing to cross those difficult tasks off our list!
For example, when I started losing weight, I would first focus on moving and some sort of exercise each day and eating healthier meals. Gradually, I increased my time spent exercising and even joined a gym. I wasn’t perfect and I fell often, but God gave me the strength and the self-control I needed to keep pressing on towards permanent change.
Besides small steps to change, plan moments for you! And please don’t feel guilty about it for one minute! We are all better moms and a better wives when we do something we enjoy. When we feel fulfilled, it will overflow into the lives of our family!
If you LOVE this shirt as much as I do, you can shop here >>
http://shop.mymomsanity.com?afmc=1s
(Seriously, has there ever been a more true statement?!)
Change is a process and there is joy in the journey. Resolve to love yourself along the way and to pray that God will give you self-control as you press-on towards progress. Remember, change is not about perfection, but about embracing who you really are and striving to be the person God created you to be!
What areas of your life do you need to pray for change? I’d love for you to create a mom sanity plan and to stop by to share your experience and your plan for growth and balance! I’m praying for you!
Thank you for sharing these! I’m a big culprit of mom guilt and losing myself, so I try to do something for myself everyday (even if it’s just for a few minutes at a time, or a continuous hour or so). This flow chart is very helpful and I feel as though it’ll keep my focus on gaining some sanity. Thank you again!
I love the idea of doing something for yourself everyday! I need to add that in to my plan! Thanks so much for stopping by!
I love this post. I love this plan. I am so making one up because recently I did slip and fall backwards. I did implement somethings to get me back on track! I can’t wait for next weeks post!
This sounds very similar to my own journey. I felt like I lost myself somewhere after my second child. I still say to this day it was praying and writing, which maybe was the answer to my prayer, that lead me back to myself. I love this printable by the way. What a great visual action plan for taking back control of your life.
I think it’s so easy to lose yourself and moms need to realize, they don’t have to settle for a lost self! Good for you!
This is a great idea and plan. We all have our moments when we are about to lose it, but having a plan makes everything better!
I totally agree! If I know in my head the ways I’ve already put in place to stay sane, then hopefully I will remember that in those moments of craziness. 🙂
I appreciate the thought and detail of this article. I actually look forward to completing the exercise & see how I can create better balance!
May it help you create a Mom Sanity Plan that will bless your life! Best wishes!
You knew I needed this today, right? I was telling my husband last night that I’m tired of just trying to survive each day. I want to thrive! I am so overwhelmed and busy and I need to sit down and hash out a plan. And lo and behold, here’s your post. 🙂 Thanks for sharing your journey and tips!
I totally understand, Erin! I love the world of blogging but it can be a busy road and there are often not enough hours in the day. Many blessings to on your journey to find balance!
Great post! Thank you so much for sharing on the Growing in Grace Link Up. I’ll be sharing this on facebook this week. 🙂
Thanks so much, Nicole! I so appreciate it!
I am such a visually oriented person, your use of the graphic organizer really spoke to me. You are absolutely right, we must take care of ourselves so that we can be the mothers we want to be!
This is a great tool for the visual oriented mom like me! Glad it could help in some way!
This is great! thanks for sharing, I hope to incorporate this in a bible study on the Proverbs 31 women. God bless
Thanks for including me in your study! Many blessings to you on your own mom journey!
Such a great idea to consciously sit down and write down a plan like this! I have to schedule time in for my stuff or else the day skips by and I realize I’ve just been go-go-go all day long with nothing to refuel me. Thanks so much for sharing! 🙂
It’s amazing how quickly as moms we feel depleted. This chart really has helped me promote balance and sanity.
What you said was wise, but for me, the chart is the real key to it clicking in my mind. I’m filling it out in just a minute to make a plan for myself.
Good for you! I revisit mine often and tweak it when necessary to try to promote balance!
We are so hard on ourselves as moms. I remember feeling overwhelmed as a young mother of three children all under the age of 5. Now, they are 17, 20, and 22 but I still find myself feeling guilty. I should have done this differently or changed the way I did that. The enemy wants us to feel overwhelmed, guilty, and inadequate at every stage of motherhood. Thank you for this post. I’ll share it on my social media networks because I know it will be helpful and encouraging to so many mamas out there. Have a great week!
Thank you for sharing, Tina! It’s amazing how guilty we can feel and I am trying hard to cling to God’s promises of grace and forgiveness as I parent. It’s a daily battle!
Great post. As a person who realizes I need to make some changes and then wants them done yesterday, I appreciate the take it in small steps approach you mention.
My kids are young adults now… but we can all still apply this wonderful lesson and helpful hints to all of our lives – you have a great”action plan”!
Love this post! I think most of us moms fall into this at one time or another!
Oh I think so too! It’s amazing how quickly we realize things spin out of control!
Ooh! Great post. I love free printables and I *definitely* love sanity.
Ha! I love sanity too and hope this helps you on your journey to finding some!
Thanks for putting this worksheet together! I love learning about organization and good time management. Putting priorities in order is a good place to start.
Absolutely! It’s such a help to be able to visualize something, at least it is for me. I’m glad you found it beneficial!
Oh my goodness. I can’t tell you how encouraging this is. I’m sharing it on my FB page. Especially the questions you encourage us to ask ourselves to find stressors. If moms filled out that printable on a regular basis, I bet we would all be more sane. Thank you!
Thank you so much for sharing, Marie! I need to revisit this and tweak mine a bit, too!
This is a very encouraging post! No matter how blessed and happy we are with what God has given us, we can get overwhelmed at times. It’s very stressful to raise children.
The image about praying for change should be a printable 8 x 10. It’s beautiful and would be great to display!
Great idea, Brandi! I’ll have to do that! It’s a blessing to hear that other moms can be overwhelmed, too!
Solid steps for the overwhelmed mother to become the happy, calm mom. Thanks for sharing such a well thought-out post.
Thanks, Mary! It just might have started on a scratch piece of paper crying out to God….
This is fantastic! I’d love if you would come by and and link this post up over at the #HomeMattersParty if you haven’t already! The door is open 🙂
http://theroadtodomestication.com/2015/05/08/home-matters-linky-party-36/
Thanks, Kristen! I’ll be sure to do that soon! Thanks for the tips!
Excellent advice! My 2 girls are both grown, but this is excellent for those still in the trenches.
Oh yes, motherhood certainly can feel like we’re in the trenches for sure. 🙂