Did you enjoy the recent three-day weekend?  Weekends  are sometimes hard on moms.  It’s hard to let go of our to-do list and spend a weekend or even just a few hours really relaxing. You’d like to sit and read a novel, take a bubble bath or play an endless game of Monopoly with your 9-year old.

But… if you’re like me there’s always something you really should do, or what you could call “working mothers stress” especially if you work from home. You’re already mentally gearing up for next week and thinking of ways to get ahead—maybe it’s catching up on laundry, getting a head start on your next newsletter or responding to last week’s emails.

It’s easy to give into what you “should” do but if you recognized the significant payoff that relaxing provides, perhaps you’d do it more often…

The truth is, the problem-solving part of your brain functions best during unstructured time. So when you’re engaged in “mindless” activities—taking a nature walk, listening to music, getting a pedicure — you’ll often come upon solutions that your “busier” mind doesn’t focus on. J.K. Rowling says the premise for the Harry Potter books popped into her mind as she was gazing out a train window. I know for myself, my best Metromom ideas have come to me during exercise or meditative time.

If improving your mental sharpness isn’t motivating enough, carving out regular times to relax also provides health benefits. When you’re constantly busy your body finds itself stuck in high gear which can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease and a suppressed immune system. Doesn’t it always seem like you catch a cold after a particularly stressful week?

Another perk of ditching your to-do list, is how your family benefits. Studies show that children of parents who are constantly racing from one task to another end up being stressed themselves. Our children feel our energy — the positive and the negative. Allowing yourself time to relax helps your whole family relax and enjoy the weekend together.

When you stop and think about it, how often do you really get ahead on your week by cramming too much into your weekend?

Relaxing doesn’t just happen. Like anything that you’re committed to bringing into your life, you have to plan for it. For me, I have to set aside chunks of time to do nothing since my natural tendency is to perpetually stay busy. This is especially true if you work from home.  I’ll share some tips in an upcoming post that I use and some of my work-at-home mom friends use to make sure we relax each and every weekend.

Related Posts

• Extreme Self-Care
• VAs – The Solution for Working Mothers’ Stress
• Get it Done While Working from Home by Managing Interruptions and Distractions
• Get It Done While Working from Home When You Feel Overwhelmed and Uninspired

This entry was posted on Friday, July 3rd, 2009 at 12:45 pm and is filed under Solo Entrepreneur Lifestyle, The SELF of Self Employment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.