I don’t know a mom out there who isn’t a supermom in her own right. We just do it all. Probably because we know that the buck stops here. But sometimes life just gives you lemons. Or you are in a situation that simply stinks and you have to deal with it. So when it does, or if you are going through a major life event like the birth of a baby, illness or death of a loved one, or even if you’re just up to your eyeballs doing life as you normally do, it becomes necessary to find shortcuts to get it all done.
Breaking my ankle last month was my moment to turn lemons into lemonade. I somehow made it through nearly 44 years of life without breaking anything. I can honestly say I did not fully appreciate how challenging it would be to have a broken foot. In the beginning I naively thought I would continue on with life as usual just with my leg in a cast. Boy was I wrong! I could not bear weight on my bad foot for a couple of weeks. That meant my arms were also out of commission because they were needed to help me get around on crutches.
We moms are so accustomed to being independent and taking care of everyone around us that to suddenly find yourself in a situation where you are vulnerable and completely dependent on those you take care of to take care of you is frustrating. I hope you don’t find yourself in a similar situation. And I definitely hope that you ask for help when you need it. But, in case it helps, here are some tips and mom life hacks that I adopted to help get through the tough times.
No. 1. // Lower Your Standards. I have to start here because it really is the first step in adapting to a situation where you know you are in over your head. When you are in a place where you are treading water as hard and fast as you can but you are barely making it, you have to just lower your standards. This was a tough one for me. Whenever I hobbled past the laundry room and saw the clothes overflowing from the hampers, the still-damp laundry spilling out of the dryer, and all of the wrinkled piles of clean clothes that needed to be folded — all I could do was turn off the lights and close the door. I did the same for my kids’ rooms. Out of sight, out of mind. When you have limited bandwidth you have to make tough decisions about how to allocate your energy.
No. 2. // Take Care Of Your Basic Needs. Without a free hand to be able to make meals for myself, let alone anyone else, I had to get creative about making sure I was getting fed and watered while everyone was at school and work. I turned to Territory Foods, a meal delivery service, so I could make sure I ate a proper breakfast and lunch everyday. This was one of my best decisions! Each week I was able to place an order for meals that were delivered to my front porch the following Monday. The meals are fully customizable so if you are a healthy eater like I try to be, a vegetarian, a vegan, or someone who counts macros, you are able to select from a wide variety of meal options that meet your specific dietary needs. The meals are simple heat and serve. That was about all I could handle anyway.
No. 3. // Use Services When You Can. Fortunately we live in a time where Instacart and other online grocery shopping options are readily available. I had not used a grocery shopping service like this since my kids were little. Back then it was easier to order groceries online than to drag little ones through a grocery store. In just the last few years online grocery shopping has gotten even easier. With Instacart I was able to get my grocery order at Whole Foods delivered within three hours! Many of these services offer free trials so there isn’t a downside to trying it out when you really need it. We already have a regular cleaning service that comes every other week but if you don’t already have one this is another sanity-saving option I highly recommend!
No. 4. // Delegate and Empower Your Young People. Now if you are a mom of little, little ones this may not work for you but my kids are 13, 10, and 7. I can’t think of a better time to delegate and empower your kids to take on more responsibilities around the house. Everybody has to pick up some slack when mom goes down. For me, letting go of the control was the hard part. But once I realized that it’s actually good for me to let go and for my kids to take on more responsibility, I realized that there is a silver-lining (albeit a small one) to being in a tough situation. Hopefully you can make it last beyond the tough time. Somehow kids just seem to know when they can let up, though.
No. 5. // Accept Help When It Is Offered And Ask For It When It Is Not. I am far from an expert on this point. I am a work in progress and I am trying to adopt this philosophy. I can say for certain that my life was greatly improved when I swallowed my pride and asked for and accepted help from a friend.
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This post was not sponsored. Views are entirely my own. However, if you would like to try prepared meals from Territory Foods, use discount code LWAG to receive $50 off your first two orders.
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