Burned Out And Stressed

Do you ever feel so burned out that you can’t imagine dragging yourself out of that comfy down comforter on your bed? Do the impending holidays stress you out? Are your kids making you feel crazy?

If you answered yes to any of those questions, let me tell you, you are not alone.

As mamas, as women, as wives, we are weary. We are burdened. We are stressed.

When I cannot for the life of me figure out how to get my child to care about passing classes, I want to pull my hair out. And cry. And I wonder how badly I am screwing this child up and how much we should be saving for future counseling sessions. I need a Jesus intervention with this child. Like, yesterday. I’m exhausted. I’m bone weary. I feel like a giant failure.

I open Pinterest and see images of homes decorated by ninja interior decorating mamas. Meals flambaéed by a Martha Stewart clone who also organically grew, massaged, and processed the ingredients herself. I sometimes close the page and walk away because I can’t live up to it.

There are days, sometimes weeks even, where I’m lucky if the pile of clothes, toys, cards, legos, and papers in the living room remotely resembles the shape of a coffee table hiding underneath it all.

A vacation for a week or two completely alone sounds like bliss at the moment. And I don’t even feel guilty for feeling this way. If you are feeling like this, you don’t need to feel guilty either.

The holidays are rushing in now and all I can think is, oh crap. I cannot take on more. Brain explodes. Cue dramatic music.

We’ve signed on for these crazy super roles. Super Mom. Super Wife. Super Christian. Super Writer. Super Friend. Super Woman was pretend, ladies. Make. Believe.

You have my permission to hang up the cape and rip off the gold cuffs. For good.

If you are in my life I do not expect you to be perfect. In fact, I’d like it if you relaxed and stopped worrying so much.

And I’ll be honest, I don’t pay attention to how clean or well decorated your home is when I come to visit. Unless you are a decorating ninja and offering to come attack my home for free, then let’s talk.

Hair and make-up? Meh. Who needs ’em. Just brush your teeth because dragon breath is generally frowned upon.

If you don’t deliver a plate of cookies for Christmas, I won’t be offended. I promise not to give it a second thought, if it ever even makes it to a first one.

Before the holidays arrive and more chaos ensues causing us to want to run away, let’s vow to simplify and slow it down.

Do your kids need to do a craft every day of Christmas vacation? No. Pick one, maybe two and stick to those.

Do you need to make 15 different types of cookies and candies to deliver to friends and family? No. Pick one or two. Make some larger batches and reduce how much you give and how many you deliver. Or – gasp – nix the whole thing and make nothing or only a little for your little family.

And if your kid is failing his classes and you’ve taken everything under the sun away from them and he still doesn’t care. Yeah, I got nothing. Sorry. Prayer is the only thing I’ve got on this one.

Take a deep breath super woman. You’ve got this. Simplify. Cut out the excess. Focus on the things that bring glory to God and everything else will fall into place.

Start simplifying today.

In the comments below, tell me what stresses you out the most about the holidays and how you plan to simplify this year.

Blessings,

 

Photocredit: “Overwhelmed With Too Many Tasks” by Michal Marcol at Freedigitalphotos.net