Still Fighting a Holiday Hangover?

Still Fighting a Holiday Hangover? - If you're like me, you spent the weeks after Winter break (plus a bunch of freaking snow days tacked on at the end, thank you very much) reentering regular life and nursing a killer Holiday Hangover. Personally, by the time school started back up, I was so SICK of being needed nonstop, getting zero time alone, having no routine, and putting myself (including my JOB) on hold for weeks.

Still Fighting a Holiday Hangover?

I spent half the break out of whack, white-knuckling it until I could get my life back. I knew I was in a crappy mood, and I tried to rein myself in; I went out by myself here and there, spent time alone in my room (yeah, right - constant interruptions), saw friends…but I was stuck in grouchy mommy mode. And the more off-kilter I got, the less my family could function. Can I PLEASE have a bad day, and people just DEAL WITH IT for once!? The whole thing reminded me of that expression:

If Mom's not happy, no one's happy.

So, if we have a bad day, does our family fall apart? WTF? I feel like people have been using this expression for years to paint moms as ticking time bombs that everyone has to tiptoe around, or else the whole family blows up. Gross! And this is what gave me my holiday hangover. I had turned that expression into a rule: If you have a bad day, you're that scary ogre ruining it for everyone, so get it together, Mama! All that stuff I did to stay high-vibe wasn't really for me; it was for the rule - so I could contain and neutralize myself into Happy Mom instead of Grouchy Mom. And so, in the end, it neither made me happy nor fixed our family dynamics. 

Most parents don't try to make themselves HAPPY.

Instead, we try to make ourselves what everybody needs from us. 

I ended up saving my break by recognizing the absolute truth behind that expression: Pursuing genuine happiness (instead of doing the minimum to keep it together for everyone else) makes a genuinely happy parent, and THAT is precisely the powerful force we need to create connection, improve behavior, and actually ENJOY parenthood. 

When was the last time you felt truly happy or let yourself shamelessly pursue happiness with no ulterior motive or guilt? 

Working with me means your happiness is part of my job! Suppose you're facing power struggles, misbehavior, or any other parenting challenges. In that case, this stuff might sound self-indulgent, but the truth is that if you're unhappy, you're a pretty crappy parent, so that's why your happiness is a BIG FREAKING DEAL. The first step is to set up a free Discovery Call and share what genuinely happy parenting looks like to you and what's making it hard right now. I'll give you the insight you need to create change immediately.

Learn more about group parent coaching here. 

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