Take Time to Rest in Motherhood (Prioritize It)

Sometimes we just need to emphasize the importance of rest. We moms often wear out from being everything for everyone. I am learning to prioritize rest in motherhood so that I can be a better mom. Choosing to rest is not a bad thing at all. Even our Creator made rest a priority, when He does not need to rest. I think He was trying to teach us to rest when He rested on the seventh day.

Today I don’t want to debate where, when, or how much to rest. I just want to remind us moms (and other women who are not moms too!) that rest is important. We should make it a priority even when we have so much we could be doing.

Perhaps this post is to remind myself as much as anyone else of this truth.

Maybe we need to learn again to rest before we break down, to rest even when there is a lot to do.

Accept That You Can’t Get Away From Sometimes Feeling Exhausted

There are seasons and days to our parenthood journey that are simply tiring and a lot of hard work. As much as someone will try to tell you that you can enjoy rested motherhood, and as much as you can implement good routines in motherhood, there is no way to completely take away the exhaustion sometimes. Accepting that has helped a lot with that I can cope better on the hard days.

Accept that there will be hard, tiring seasons, though it shouldn’t always be like this. Sometimes we will feel overwhelmed and there will be no getting away from the overwhelm of motherhood. When our baby’s sleep is very poor, our baby’s needs often need to go before our own (sleep training helps!). But it’s just a season.

You can also make sure that you have a peaceful, restful environment in your home.

It’s Okay to get Rest

It seems we are supposed to be superwomen. Mothers are portrayed as selfless, always giving people. On the one hand, it is true, but it’s not. We are humans too. Becoming mothers does not make us so much stronger necessarily.

It’s okay to not be okay without rest. It’s okay if you can’t do it all, and need to leave your to-do list for a while. It is totally okay to take a break from the demands of motherhood and busy days even when everything is not done.

Ways to not be so Tired

There are times I just can’t get away from being tired. But there are also some things I have learned and done to help me to cope better.

Focus on your health. Eating well, exercising, drinking lots of water, getting enough sleep, and other good health practices do help. When I feel well physically I can cope with everything much better. It’s something I need to work on these days.
Get sleep over screen time. Sometimes we feel like we just want a mental break, so we resort to scrolling through our phones. While it might be okay occasionally, using that as a form of rest works the wrong way. If you are tired, put your phone away and get some sleep instead. It will help you so much more with your mental health and getting enough rest.
Train your children to have some quiet time or independent naps. So far all of mine have quit sleeping for nap time around 2-3 years old. One thing that has really helped me is making sure that we all keep getting at least 1/2 an hour of downtime most days. It does take a bit training, but it is so worth it for me now to have that time to rest or do something myself while each of the children does something quiet by themselves on a sofa or bed. It gives each of them a good reset for the rest of the day too.
Implement good routines. This can be one of the bigger challenges of motherhood. When I have good routines in place my home runs better and I can enjoy my rest times better. With little ones it can still be hard, but each little bit counts.
My mom has sometimes said that “a change is better than a rest.” Sometimes everything in my house overwhelms me. Instead of a nap, occasionally just getting out for a walk with my children or something helps me to come back and see things from a cheerier perspective.
Ask for help and accept help. For some reason this can be hard for some of us moms, probably because we get the idea that we are supposed to be able to do everything. If it is all too much for you as a busy mother, don’t feel bad about asking for help. If someone offers to help, don’t feel bad about accepting help either.
Ask God for help. Sometimes I have been so weary and finding rest seemed impossible, and I have asked God to help me somehow. Sometimes the idea I get is to let everything slide and just rest. Once someone showed up at my door and washed a pile of dishes that were overwhelming for me. Sometimes I just need to learn to find rest for my soul and keep plugging away one step at a time. Even in times when everything looks so hard, God can make a way.

Rest!

Maybe you need physical rest and maybe the kind of rest you need is simply rest in your soul. Take a deep breath, turn to the Lord, and let Him show you how you need rest. If you are on the edge of burnout, something needs to change.

Save it for later.