Thriving Through the Madness: Embracing Busy Seasons with Grace

 May can be a busy month for us moms. With everything happening for end of school, work stuff and just life in general. And that busyness just continues into the summer for most people. I want to offer you two ideas that I use when things get busy and sometimes even overwhelming: How can I bless my future self and what is my enough list. By using these two ideas and being proactive instead of reactive, I can savor this busy season instead of just surviving it.

And honestly, these two ideas I have used in most seasons of life since I learned them. It might only be for 1 week or 3 months.

This idea of “how can I bless my future self?” is exactly how it sounds; “What can I do NOW that will be helpful to me LATER?” In a less stressed moment, do something that will help you in a more stressed moment. This can be any number of things but with a busy month like May/summer season, for me some of those things would look like:

* Meal planning so I’m not scrambling to figure out what’s for dinner when things are already crazy. I would also add if there was a quiet moment in the day (I know, as a busy mom that statement is laughable but in the event that the rarity happens 😉), prepping anything that I can ahead so dinner time is even easier.

*Starting a load of laundry before I go to bed at night and putting it in the dryer when I wake up to ensure the laundry doesn’t pile up (if you’re fancy, your washer might have a timer that you can set for the time that works best for you….use that if you have it!)

*Sitting down and making a list of things that I need to get for upcoming events that are not usually on my grocery list or Target run (end of year teacher gifts, graduation party gifts, birthday party gifts etc.)

*Setting up a cleaning schedule and getting everyone involved. I wouldn’t be deep cleaning things in a busy season, but I would be deciding what absolutely needed to get done and then spread out those tasks among the family. Even little kids can help with this so don’t count them out.

 The idea of what is my enough list is such a great tool! I pull this out when times are crazy and I’m getting down on myself because “nothing got done today” (I think every mom can agree they have felt this way at some point in their motherhood). Essentially it is a list that you make on paper or in your note’s app on your phone, where you get to decide ahead of time what things get done that are enough for the day. So that on the hard days, the busy days, the low energy days, you don’t spend your precious time beating yourself up over what didn’t get done. You pull your list out and remind your wonderful brain that you DID do enough today!

Some things on my list are 1 load of laundry, clean kitchen counters before bed, brushing my teeth before bed (yup, I get this specific because my brain likes to offer me that taking care of myself doesn’t count and it absolutely does!), feed myself, feed my family……you get the idea.

Take some time in the near future and think about how you can bless your future self and make “an enough” list for those overwhelming days, so you know where to put your focus without having to expend to much of your brain power. Also, keep in mind that my examples might not look like what you choose. These are all personal to each individual.

These two ideas have really helped me in those busy times of motherhood, and I hope that they will help you too 🙂