5 Ways Being a Mom is Stressful
And what to do about it!

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I'm the first one to tell you that motherhood is HARD. I'm not shy when it comes to complaining about all the ways it's complicated and heartbreaking and exhausting.... but, I also recognize that I'm incredibly lucky. Knock on wood, I have healthy, happy kids, and all the ways that parenting is hard for me is so completely normal and expected, and that's a really good thing.
What's hardest for me is remembering all that in the moment -- when my toddler spills a container of markers on the floor and is starting to draw on the clean, white walls, or when the 5-year-old insists on another outfit change when we're already late to school. It's legit stressful! But that doesn't mean I can't find ways to take a step back and appreciate all the good that goes on, like when my older kid helps the little one reach something, and he says "thank you" back in that sweet baby voice. Sometimes, I just need a way to take myself out of it all for a moment, step back, and get some perspective.
1. Going grocery shopping.
Why it's stressful: Before I had kids of my own, I remember seeing a mom in a supermarket on the Upper West Side, holding an infant, and staring at her 3 or 4 year old, saying, “What do you want for dinner tonight?" At the time, all of 22, I thought I knew everything, and I said to myself, “well, that's a terrible way to meal-plan with a kid! Too many choices! Give them two choices!"