re you feeling tired, overwhelmed, irritable or even secretly counting down the days until the start of school?

YOU’RE NOT A BAD MOM AND YOU’RE NOT FAILING.

It can be hard on children and caregivers being out of the usual routines.

It’s a lot trying to coordinate child care, camps and other summer activities.

It’s a lot on an already overflowing plate of activities to squeeze in drop offs and pick-ups.

Usually, these activities fall on moms who are often carrying the majority of the family’s mental load.

It’s a lot trying to juggle working from home and entertaining little ones.

The deadlines don’t stop just because school has.

The added sensory stimulation and emotional dysregulation of children can be especially hard on highly sensitive moms and kiddos.

Society expects too much of moms with not enough support.

Society lies to moms saying we’re doing a bad job if we’re not doing everything with and for our children.

YOU’RE DOING YOUR BEST and YOU DON’T ACTUALLY NEED TO SPEND ALL YOUR TIME WTH YOUR CHILDREN.

Letting your children be bored ignites their creativity and imagination.

Letting your children be self-reliant increases self-trust and resilience.

Letting your children see you do things that feel good and spend time with people other than them, reminds them that you are more than a mother and your needs matter too.

This leads to greater respect for you and your time and more room for you to enjoy your summer.

6 Tips that Helped Me Stress Less and Enjoy Summers More as a Highly Sensitive Mom

1)     Starting and ending my day with some mindful minutes

2)     Challenging the Intensive Mother Myth and focusing on quality vs. quantity time

3)     Getting outside as much as possible

4)     Finding and doing what works for our family and our unique nervous systems – unplugging from social media often helped reduce comparison and staying in the present

5)     Discerning helpful from unhelpful guilt and making repairs when needed

6)     Sharing the load wherever possible

Each of these things took time and often additional training or support to learn and implement but it’s been worth it. Now that I have teenagers, looking back, I’m so grateful for how learning to release the pressure and honour my needs led to so many moments of ordinary magic and connection that we will treasure forever.

If you want someone who’s been there and has specialized training in high sensitivity, burnout and compassion fatigue prevention and healthy relationships to help you stress less this and make room for more joy throughout the year, book a free intro call or First Appointment with Nicole. I’m on vacation July 15th and 22nd but at Encompass Kitchener most Monday afternoons and offer free intro video or phones calls throughout the week so you can ask questions and see if we’re a fit. Book online.

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