Moms encounter a ton of challenges on a day-to-day basis. Being responsible for another person's well-being 24/7 is a huge and exhausting undertaking. Women are strong by design, but most of us have a breaking point. For me the goal of each day of parenting is to make it to bedtime without reaching that point. It doesn't always happen–I'm probably okay 80 percent of the time and on the verge of a meltdown 20 percent of the time, but I think the numbers are beginning to shift further in my favor. Here are a few things that are helping:
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1. Mascara. In my experience, all you need to appear at least semi-rested, even if it's been months since you had a good night's sleep is a couple of coats of mascara. When you're sleep-deprived and not feeling the least bit presentable, it'll help brighten your eyes and will make you feel like you at least made some type of effort. Bonus points if you manage to smear on some eyeliner as well.
2. A support system. When I'm feeling unsure or even just a bit broken down by motherhood, there's a network of people that I turn to for reassurance and advice–my husband, my mother, other moms with babies my son's age and close friends have helped me out of more than a few stressful moments.
3. Caffeine. Regardless of what your convictions were pre-baby, I don't know many moms–especially moms of babies–who don't need a caffeine jolt at least once in a while. Seriously, you never know when your tank is going to run out, so I suggest you at least have an emergency stash of something caffeinated.
4. Video subscription. Whether you're still getting up with your baby for feedings several times a night or you just need to zone out for a couple of hours, a Netflix or Hulu subscription will come in handy. I have made my way through season after season of a number of television series while putting my son to bed at night. I'm not always engrossed, but at the very least, it's background noise.
5. Chocolate. I've taken to rewarding myself with a small piece of chocolate at the end of each day. After my son is in his crib and quietly entering dreamland, I take a few minutes to enjoy a quiet moment and chocolate has become a part of that nightly ritual. If chocolate is not your thing (that's possible, I suppose), choose whatever is and try closing out each of your days with it.
6. A hobby. When baby comes along it seems as if everything else falls to the wayside–at least for most of us. There are no longer enough hours in the day to check everything off our to-do lists, let alone do anything that we once considered fun. But, once the first few hectic months are behind you, it's a good idea to revive at least one of your former hobbies so that your life is not all baby, all the time.
7. The Internet. Whether you access it via smartphone, tablet, laptop, or good old-fashioned desktop, the Internet is the modern mom's "What to Expect the First Year." It can be both a very helpful and a very dangerous place, but I'm willing to bet money that every mom you ask relies on it for information about babies, kids and parenting.
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