Article

6 Helpful Ways To Cope With Working-Mom Guilt | Reevin

Written by Nandini Agrawal | Reviewed By Neha Bhardwaj | Updated On September 26, 2022

working mom guilty- multitasking mother

Listen to this article in Audio

What Is Working Mom's Guilt?

"Working Mom Guilt" is when anything occurs that makes you feel guilty about being a working mother.

Working mothers have additional physical and mental difficulties. Their thoughts are always scattered. You probably worry about kids and the things that must be done at home while at work, and the opposite concerns might take up all your time. Paying attention to the moment and enjoying it gets challenging when working mom guilt hits in.

Working mothers struggle daily with the pressure to complete everything to perfection. The difficulty is genuine, ranging from juggling obligations at work and home to being affected by a lack of time for self-care and close friendships. Many working mothers are worn out and overextended at the end of each day. 

Even though there are moments when you have very excellent reasons to feel guilty, not always, as this guilt immobilizes your thoughts, diverting you from your goals and just wasting your time at the end of the day. 

Reasons You Might Feel Working-Mom Guilt

  1. We all have a solid notion of what makes a good mother because, obviously, we have noticed so many mothers in our lives. Hence, you have developed a set of guidelines that you adhere to based on these relationships, and you could feel bad if you break these fictitious rules.
  2. Your identity as a working mother is essential to you when you fail at it and feel bad about it. It might make you feel that you are incapable of handling the most crucial task you have ever been given. You become indulge in extreme self-criticism.
  3. Seeing other people post about their vacations, share pictures of their families, or announce their most recent job on social media might make you feel like crying out of guilt for not being able to manage stuff or be a perfect mom like others. 

You need to take care of yourself, your kids, your house, and your job. The fact that working parent guilt can creep up on you and knock you down is understandable.

How to Cope with Working Mom Guilt?

  1. Forget those fictitious guidelines if you want to get rid of your working mom's guilt. Instead, base your expectations on your situation. What's the worst that can happen if you break these rules? Your response will bring you to the present.
  2. Avoid self-criticism and practise self-compassion. cease criticizing your actions and environment. Consider the big picture. Remind yourself that you are a wonderful mother, that mistakes are inevitable, and that nobody is perfect.
  3. It's time to order things. Find a technique to set up reminders to make sure that nothing gets missed. 
  4. The time you spend scrolling through social media in search of connection needs to uplift you. Unfollow someone or a group if you discover that their posts often make you feel depressed.
  5. Keep in mind the rationale behind your decisions. Recognize the relationship you can still have with your kids by only being "good enough."
  6. Asking for assistance is often one of the most difficult things for women. A working mother who could handle everything herself independently is a myth. This ideation would just add to your stress rather than seek assistance. Now I understand It takes practice to ask for aid, but once you take a courageous step in doing so, those around you will begin to reciprocate.

Keep in mind that empathy and guilt are indistinguishably linked. You have empathy, caring, and concern for those around you if you feel guilty. Eliminating your guilt doesn't imply that you aren't a caring or loving mother. You will err; in fact, you probably already have. The objective is to take in as much knowledge as you can from them and then, if necessary, modify your behavior. You feel successful when you accept reality rather than battling it.

It's common to have guilt, but living in guilt is not a good idea. It not only can hamper performance at workplace but can also deteriorate relations with kids, family and others. Recognizing once efforts, goals, keeping a reality check on ground of normal human being not as superhuman and acknowledging the individual differences associated with not only personality traits but also with time, situation and priorties an really help.
Saloni | October 3, 2022, 9:52 pm
0 0