Processing emotions is not easy, especially when spending 24/7 with your kids at home. However, it is important to manage these feelings because it is how you react in these moments that make a difference in your child’s development.
What Is Emotional Self-Care?
It refers to the act of becoming aware of and identifying what you are feeling and allowing yourself to channel those feelings in a way that benefits your overall wellness. It nourishes your feelings, perceptions, and thoughts to improve your emotional well-being.
Why Is Emotional Self-Care so Important for Stay-at-Home Moms?
Emotions are contagious. Young children absorb our energy and emotions, reflecting them back to us. We can share our calm, or share our upset. Learning to manage your reactions is one of the most important ways you can reduce your own and your child’s anxiety. It also teaches children how to manage their own emotions.
Benefits of Emotional Self-Care
- Improved mood
- Increased self-esteem
- Reduced anxiety
- Increased empathy
- Reduced stress level
- Learned coping mechanisms
Before Starting Emotional Self-Care
1. Learn the Names of Your Feelings and Get to Know Them
Learn to identify less commonly named ones, including shame, doubt, disgust, boredom, desperation, etc. You can use a mood chart online to give you new ideas.
2. Practice Awareness About Signals Flowing From the Body
Tuning in with your body and paying attention to where you feel heightened sensations is the best way to locate a feeling.
3. Identify Your Feelings Correctly
Take the time to look below the surface symptoms and see what’s going on underneath. For example, try to determine what makes you angry. Maybe you feel ashamed or embarrassed.
4. Observe Your Feelings and Try to Understand Why You Are Having Them
You can ask yourself: Is this the trigger of childhood memories? Or Is this distress from a build-up of different events?
5. Accept Your Feelings
Tolerating difficult emotional states can be difficult but remember, feeling your feelings is okay. Just allow them to exist within you.
6. Make a Choice About How to Respond
Next time you feel anger or fear, recognize that you get to choose how you want to respond. That recognition is powerful. Rather than lashing out, tell someone that you’re feeling angry.
7. Don’t Suppress or Ignore Your Feelings
Stopping them, suppressing them, and getting angry at them will not bring anything beneficial or expected. After a long withholding, the reaction was intensified, the same happens with unacceptable emotions – they will come back after a while with increased force.
8. Express Your Feelings
Just becoming aware of them, making the decision to express them, and saying them out loud brings emotional release. We purify ourselves, making room for other feelings.
9. Learn to Self-Soothe
When you are upset or stressed, it is important to know positive ways to cope on your own—that’s a skill important for our individual growth no matter who we are. Finding ways to self-soothe can help you feel at ease when you are dealing with frustration, excitement, or intense emotions.
Emotional Self-care Ideas
10. Practice Breathing Exercises
They are easy to learn and can be practiced anywhere. Breathing exercises increase our oxygen intake and calm our mind. They are shown to be highly effective in reducing stress and anxiety.
11. Listen to Relaxing Music
Relaxing music has a unique link to our emotions, and research has found that it can be used as an extremely effective stress management tool. By listening to relaxing music you feel peaceful.
12. Learn About EFT(Emotional freedom Technique)
It is still being researched and it shouldn’t replace going to see a health professional. But you can give it a try, as it can help manage emotions and troubling thoughts.
13. Color in an Inspirational Coloring Book
Coloring books are not just for kids. There are so many to pick from: mandalas, animals, nature, or inspirational quotes. It’s a great way to relax, quiet your mind, and express your inner artist.
14. Use Fidget Toys
Those are not reserved only for kids also. They provide a physical outlet for nervous energy and can help calm the mind.
15. Say Affirmations Daily
Besides manifesting your intentions, affirmations influence how you think and feel. Manifesting positive thoughts confirms that you are largely in control of the outcome of the things you desire.
16. Practice Self-Acceptance
It’s about letting go of the things you can’t change and appreciating what makes you unique. Learn to love yourself by embracing your past and present.
17. Try Aromatherapy
Therapeutic use of essential oils may provide some benefits like reducing stress and anxiety and boosting feelings of relaxation. Remember to consult a doctor before undergoing aromatherapy treatment.
18. Practice Mindfulness
Mindfulness helps us “live in the moment” by paying attention to what is inside us. Use your senses to notice what is happening around you in nonjudgmental ways. These skills can help you stay calm and avoid engaging in negative thought patterns when you are in the midst of emotional pain.
19. Set Aside Some Quiet Time
Finding moments of silence can have significant psychological and mental health advantages and give you a greater sense of peace. With all of the constant noise you hear on a day-to-day basis, embracing silence can help stimulate your brain and help you process information.
20. Go to Emotional-Focused Therapy
It’s a type of therapy that helps people better understand, accept, regulate, and express their emotions. Working with a professional is an excellent way to support your emotional well-being. You deserve (at least) one hour a week to focus on yourself.
21. Have a Strategy for a Difficult Situations
When a difficult situation happens, especially with your children involved, you have to regulate yourself. Find the best approach that works for you. You can use this list as a guide.
- Stop what you are doing
- Take a deep breath
- Bring your awareness to the present moment
- Calm your body (EFT or breathing)
- Try to smooth yourself (Say your calming mantra)
- See things from your child’s perspective
- Share empathy and compassion
- Step away if needed. (e.g. put a child in a playpen or ask your partner to take over) and give yourself time to calm down.
Takeaway
Your emotional self-care deserves just as much attention as your physical health. Try to add at least one emotional self-care activity to your routine every day and notice the difference. It is important to develop the ability to understand yourself and your emotional reactions. Behind each of them, there is some information that should be read carefully. This will allow you to grow as a parent and find better solutions for the future.
