Take Time For Yourself: Green House Cleaning Can Take Off Some of the Stress

Women are consummate jugglers. They raise families, hold full-time jobs or run their own businesses, manage their homes, volunteer, act as chauffeur to their children, are caregivers when someone is sick and, more often today, care for aging parents. If this describes you, then you it may feel like you’re on the go 25 hours a day (if that were possible). But doing this is exhausting and dangerous for your physical and mental health. It’s quite possible that while you’re taking care of everyone else, you’re ignoring the one person who needs care the most – you.

If you’ve flown on a plane before, you’ve probably listened to the flight attendant’s advice for parents traveling with small children. Parents should always put their oxygen masks on first. Yet women routinely ignore this great advice choosing to help everyone else with their oxygen masks while ignoring their own need for one. As a mom, wife, daughter, sister and volunteer, you breathe life into so many other people and things that it’s easy to forget or put off the fact that you need to be restored, too. If your responsibilities drain you, and you do nothing to change the dynamic, the eventual result will be burnout. This can show up as illness, fatigue or even resentment toward those around you. When this happens, you’re probably not a lot of use to anyone.

But how can you take time away when you’re needed in so many places and by so many people? It may not be reasonable (or affordable) for you to lounge at a luxurious spa for a week, but can you take 15 minutes up to an hour to pamper yourself without the blaring of stereos, dinging of emails or the tearful cries of “Mommy!” in the background? If your answer is, “no,” then there really is a much bigger problem you’ll need to address. Everyone needs a timeout, especially an overworked, overstressed mom.

If you’re stuck for ideas on what to do for those 15-60 minutes, here are 25 ideas to get you thinking. Taking a 15-minute break will help you to reconnect with your needs, lower your stress level and allow you to experience a few precious moments of peace. Believe it or not, 15 minutes can make a difference. But 60 or more would be better. Come on, somebody had to say it.

  1. Ride a bike
  2. Listen to your favorite music
  3. Call an old friend and catch up
  4. Take a leisurely walk around your neighborhood
  5. Sit in the sunshine
  6. Weed your garden
  7. Read a book
  8. Take a drive to a favorite spot
  9. Play with your pet
  10. Take a bubble bath
  11. Stare out the window
  12. Sing!
  13. Start a gratitude journal
  14. Rollerblade
  15. Cook your favorite dish (just for you!)
  16. Reacquaint yourself with a favorite hobby
  17. Pray
  18. Have lunch or dinner with a friend
  19. Put your feet up and enjoy a cup of your favorite drink
  20. Stretch to loosen up tight muscles
  21. Build a snowman (if you’re in the right climate at the right time of year)
  22. Window shop
  23. If you golf (or even if you don’t) go to the driving range and hit a bucket of balls
  24. Dance!
  25. Buy yourself some flowers

Can you think of other ways you can spend 15 to 60 minutes taking care of you?

A green house cleaning visit from Better Life Maids can save you up to 4 hours a week. That is really the main reason that people choose to use our services. In today’s busy world, you need to put a value on your time. If you are task saturated, look at what you are doing and see what is eating up your time, and not providing a rewarding experience. Those items that you can afford to outsource, do so immediately. Life is too short! Go out their and smell the roses… Or do some yoga… Whatever you need to do for yourself that you have been missing out on.