July may be National Anti-Boredom Month (?), but today’s modern mom is anything but bored. The latest Motherly State of Motherhood Survey shows that moms aren’t feeling weary because we’re not interested in our activities. Instead, we’ve got too many activities going on, and we’re feeling weary from sleep deprivation!
According to the survey, nearly half of moms report getting less than six hours of sleep per night. Also, this year nearly 7-in-10 even say that in the last day, they had less than one hour to themselves without work or family obligations.
Wait wait wait wait wait… so that means we’re required to be awake more hours than ever and during that time, we can’t even get 60 minutes to ourselves?
Something’s gotta give.
Do me a favor today.
Find a place in your home- or even your car, if you must- and for no less than 60 minutes, sit. Lock the door and take a deep breath, commit to yourself and hell, yell to everyone in your household that you must not be bothered for 60 minutes. (I assure you, one firm voice raising never hurt a child.)
So many of our contributors have great ideas this month on how to practice self-care and reclaim your time. Take your phone with you, scrolling Pinterest for mid-century modern furniture. Look up how to better take care of your plants on Google. Call a friend you haven’t connected with in a long time and just VENT. Watch an incredibly stupid video on Facebook or Netflix. Read a chapter of your favorite book. Or since you’re not getting sleep at night, take a nap! My favorite thing to do? Hide in a bathroom and take a long shower or bath.
But by all means, whatever you have to do for you, do it. We have to take care of ourselves first, kids second. It’s not selfish, in a way it’s actually selfless. By committing to your well-being, you’ll become a more alert, attentive, and positive parent for your children. They’re waiting for us to fall asleep at the wheel, and based on this data, it could quite literally happen!
Let’s not give them the satisfaction.
