This week, host Amanda Haro shares a simple yet effective tool to immediately begin relieving everyday mom stress by thinking a specific thought on purpose: "This is not a problem".
Your toddler is horizontal in aisle A5 of Target because you said 'no' to buying the bottle of Tums they were using as a rattle? This is not a problem.
Your teenager grew an attitude the size of Texas overnight? This is not a problem.
Your kids can't get through a 10 minute car ride without being psychos? This is not a problem.
We create suffering for ourselves when we resist our reality. And so by learning to accept what is, we immediately relieve ourselves of stress.
"Ummmmkay, great, Amanda, but all of those things actually are problems. They like really suck and make me stressed."
Yes, all these things suck. But they aren't actually problems.
A toddler emoting loudly in public is just what toddlers do.
Teenagers are assholes; it's just what they do.
Siblings fight all.the.time. Especially in the car. Again--it's just what they do.
And the problem with thinking of all these everyday things as problems is that our brain then tries to "fix" it. Which doesn't work, because what we're really doing is resisting reality. And so we end up in a hellish cycle of our kids being themselves, us trying to "fix" them, it not working, and us crying in frustration into our wine at night.
But this is a hellish cycle of our own making.
Tune in to this week's episode to learn how to break out of the shitty cycle for good.
Connect more with Amanda, burnout & confidence coach for moms, here.
To dive deeper into this thought work tool in action, also check out FIM 9: When Your Kids Give You the Finger
