Too Many Hats? Overwhelmed Mom?

Are you an Overwhelmed Mom?
Read this guest post by Catherine:

I am a woman with many hats, not literally (I HATE hat hair), but figuratively. I am a mother, wife, nurse, sister, blogger, business owner, foster parent, special needs advocate, union activist and daughter. I clearly wear many hats, as I am sure you can relate to.

I recently wrote a post on tips to try to ‘Do It All’, honestly though, I don’t know that I can do it all. I can only wear so many hats at one time. And only certain hats go well with other hats.

For example. wearing my mother and blogger hats at the same time is fairly simple, I do it frequently. I will photograph trips to the park in order to showcase my fashion failures, or make notes of post ideas while waiting for my son to (finally) finish his music lesson. However wearing the friend and nurse hat at the same time is not always easy. Honestly, you should see how often I get asked for advice on medical issues from friends (I am a NICU nurse, so if you are over 8 lbs, I have no idea what’s wrong with you). Being the special needs parent and business owner at the same time is almost impossible, because honestly, one of those hats at a time is hard enough.

Now I say this all light-heartedly, because I cannot ever completely get rid of some of my hats. Being a mother, wife, daughter, sister and friend does not stop, just because I need to go to a meeting with a social worker. All these hats make me who I am.

So what tips do I have to help you wear your hats well?

1. Think about which hats you have. Making a mental list of the roles and responsibilities you have may be overwhelming at first, but it can also make you feel like you are very important.

2. Consider which hats require more time than others. You don’t need to write a calendar dictating the exact number of hours you will dedicate yourself to the ‘wife’ hat each month, but to take a general look at where your priorities lie at that moment in time can be helpful.

3. Take off a hat, try it out. Sometimes we just need a break. Tomorrow for instance, I am going to ‘Wine-O-Clock’ with some important women in my life. Now, I don’t actually drink, but this does give me a few hours to take off my mommy hat and just leave it in my purse. It is never really gone, and I am grateful for that, but a short break always does me good!

4. Be realistic. Just because you have only 4 hats and Sally wears 17 and looks good in them all, does not mean you are less important. We are all different and we need to get rid of some of the guilt for the things we cannot be.

~Catherine, a mom-erce promotion whiz is the mommy of four awesome boys. Lover of cupcakes and all things kid related (except video games). A serial mompranuer, Cat currently ownsBundles and Buzz andFlipSize Canada as well as being co-owner of TOTS: Business  and nowTOTS: Family.

I want to know what your hats look like? How do you juggle them?

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