feel good with a bath
There are times when every parent longs for their childless days and pre-kids fun like the carefree Sunday morning sleep in after a night of bottomless Margaritas.
The urge usually takes you when the kids are screaming, the Weet Bix is caked on and you have red paint in your hair. Motherhood can leave you feeling like a wrung out, colourless version of your old self. That feeling's not permanent, though. Take a little time, recharge the batteries and get your groove back.
Take a long bath
Set up the candles, play some soothing music, grab a magazine or good book and lock the bathroom door. A warm bath, especially if it's enhanced with aromatherapy oil, can do wonders for your soul and your mental clarity, in a very short time. Don't spoil the mood by getting stuck back into the grind as soon as you step out of the steam: take some time to rub in some scented body lotion, give yourself a pedicure while your cuticles are soft or curl up in bed with a book while you're still warm.
Lipstick
A new lipstick can completely change the way you feel. For $20, there's the smell, feel and look of indulgence. So you've got nowhere to wear it? Who cares? Put it on when you're at home and wander around giving the kids big, sticky kisses all day. Pass your old lipsticks on to the kids and spend some quality time in front of the mirror getting made up.
Escape to another world: for two hours, twenty minutes
Finished the nightly struggle with dinner, bath and bedtime stories? Grab your wallet, kiss your man and head out to a movie alone. In the darkness of the cinema it doesn't matter that you've got mashed pumpkin on your shoulder because we are all equal before the silver screen. Laugh, cry, eat a choc top. How can you beat that?
Plug in the headphones, shut out the world
When you were a teenager you probably spent hours just listening to music: learning the words, memorising every breath, every phrase. If your head is now full of The Wiggles, it's time to reconnect with your teenaged, music obsessed self. The only way to really become immersed in an album is to put on some headphones and listen closely, uninterrupted. If that means dancing around the bedroom with your iPod and a hair brush, so much the better!
Maybe you feel like you don't even know any music any more, so much of your life is being dictated by the children. Ask some friends, or members of your mothers group, about music they like to listen to and spend a bit of time listening alone. If you have iTunes, you can use a service called Genius. Choose one of your favourite songs and Genius will suggest some new music that you might also like. Finding a new musical love can remind you of a time when you had no one to please but yourself.
Talk like a grown up
Speaking in words of less than two-syllables for the whole day can drive even the most patient parent to breaking point. Everyone needs to connect with other adults, preferably about topics they are interested in. Long rambling conversations are a thing of the past when you are constantly interrupted by cranky toddlers or demanding babies. Take some time to sit down with friends and just talk.
Feel like you've got nothing to say? Join a book group and get inspired to read, then you'll have plenty to say. Or just buy a paper on the day you're meeting someone, read the opinion columns and the letters page to jump start your brain.
How do you stay sane? Talk with others in EB members in our forums.
