Family – Page 5 – Personal Growth Cafe

November 7, 2017

I enjoy my time with family.

My family is a precious gift. I feel so blessed that my Creator filled my life with such incredible people.

The time I have with my family is invaluable.

I cherish my family relationships — my parents who gave me a loving home, my siblings who make me feel special, my children who allow me to see the best in myself, and my spouse who loves and supports me.

Carving out family time is important because spending time with my family fills me with happiness.

I look forward to sharing time with the people who mean the most to me. After all, the purpose of my work is to find fulfillment in life, while providing for my family.

I also take time to nurture all of my family relationships. Keeping these connections nurtures my soul.

When I call a family member who lives far away, take the time to have an important conversation with my child, eat a meal with my relatives, or arrange an activity that allows us all to bond — I strengthen my family connections.

Because I have strong family bonds, I am never alone.

When I am with my family, I am surrounded by love. My family wants the best for me and is always there to listen to me.

My family brings laughter and love into my life. They provide me with a strong network that keeps me safe and grounded.

Spending time with my family is truly a blessing.

How do you nurture each family relationship with the same energy?

How do your family relationships nurture your soul?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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October 23, 2017

Balancing Work and Family Time

It’s the age-old struggle: how do you balance your work and family in a way that makes you feel fulfilled and guilt-free. Is it possible?

A typical day could be 8 hours at work and 2 hours commuting, yet family leisure time hasn’t even begun! It seems like there just aren’t enough hours in the day to balance both family and work, but there really are ways to make your life more manageable.

With a few simple tweaks to your schedule and a re-evaluation of your life goals, you can find fulfillment without feeling stretched thin at work or at home.

Evaluate Your Career Path

The best way to start changing how you approach the limited hours in your day is to evaluate your career path.

Ask yourself: “Am I working in a career that I am truly passionate about? Is the trade-off between work and family worth the time I spend at the office?”

Asking yourself these types of questions (at any point in your career) will help you keep your priorities in check. The bottom line question is: am I able to attend to both my work and my family?

If not, what needs to happen to find balance? Perhaps this means a change of career to allow for more quality time, money, or less overall responsibilities and stress.

Evaluate Your Commute and Career-Related Traveling

Start thinking of all the time and expenses incurred relating to your job. It isn’t just the working hours that take away from your spouse or kids.

Commuting could cost you a couple hours a day, while business trips could take away countless hours of valuable time that you could otherwise be spending with your family.

Evaluating these aspects of your job will help you decide whether it’s worth it, and if not, what you could do to change that.

For example, you could ask you employer if they would allow you more freedom with your work hours.

Or you could ask if your boss would allow you to work from home. You just may be surprised with what your boss has to say!

Evaluate Your Career Duties

By evaluating your task schedule, you may be able to re-allocate your time and possibly cut down on late nights or early mornings at the office.

Another important workplace strategy is to delegate tasks to others. If you typically handle everything in your department, it’s time to get help by involving others.

By delegating responsibilities to staff members, you not only empower your staff to have a more active role, but you also allow yourself more time to be home with your family.

Evaluate Your Priorities

Before you are able to adequately balance your work and family life, you have to determine what’s most important to you: money and self-fulfillment or time with your family.

Once you know the answer to this question, you’ll be able to better navigate your way to a happy and balanced life.

You may also want to calculate how much money your family needs to be happy and measure that against how much time you are willing to give to your career.

If your current job will never give you that balance or flexibility you desire, it may mean that you need to consider other career paths.

Or if your current employer won’t allow more vacation time, flexible schedules or remote work, it may be time to consider a new job at a different company.

Few people duck out of the rat race long enough to evaluate the bigger picture, this is why it’s integral to stop now and evaluate what is most important to you and your family.

How much time do you get to spend with your family?

How does your workload and travel allow you to spend enough time with those you love?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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October 12, 2017

Stress Tips for Moms

Being a mother will likely be one of the most difficult things you have ever done, but on the other hand, it will be one of the most rewarding jobs of your life.

As a mother, you often forget to take care of yourself because you’re caught up in the madness that is life. It doesn’t matter if you’re a stay at home mom or you work outside the home, being a mother is stressful!

Luckily, there are some great strategies to help you deal with mom stress.

Stress Tips For Every Mother

Get the kids on a schedule.

The best thing that every mother can do for herself is to get her kids on a schedule and keep them on it. When you try to stick to a routine you’ll feel more comfortable handling breakfasts, lunches, naps, and bed times.

When you don’t have a schedule, you may begin to feel scattered or disorganized and your stress levels will increase exponentially!

Things are always unpredictable when kids are involved, but when you have even the simplest structure, your days will be a little more predictable and you’ll save your sanity!

Don’t be afraid to put yourself in time out.

Many mothers feel like they just have to keep pushing forward when they are about to come unglued.

Moms get stressed and often need to take a breather, just like kids! Instead of continuing to push forward when you are about to snap, walk into another room and just breathe deeply for a few minutes.

While you are breathing, picture how you would like to respond to the situation and then remind yourself that it is important for you to follow through in a calm manner.

After all, you’re a role model for your children. A minute or two in “time out” can make for a great day for the whole family!

Eat healthy.

If you ask 100 moms what their diets are like, at least 85 of them will look at you and cringe. Unfortunately, there’s a tendency to just eat what you can, when you can.

Even if you are on the go you need to make a conscious effort to eat well. When you eat nutritious foods, you are providing your body with the energy it needs to keep up with your kids and cope with the stress you encounter every day.

Create a support system.

Teaming up with other moms makes a great support system. Even if you can’t get together every couple weeks, it is nice to know that you have someone you can call who won’t question your abilities but will just listen and empathize.

All mothers feel the stress that comes with the job, so make sure to surround yourself with other moms that will be happy to listen to you when you need a shoulder to lean on; and be sure to return the favor!

Make time for yourself.

As a mom, you may forget that you’re important too! This is why you need to make time for yourself every day.

You may think that there is no time, but there is if you get help or if you sneak in some relaxation after the kids go to bed or before they get up.

Give yourself a manicure or pedicure, drink that cup of tea slowly, read a book, take a long bath, or get a massage.

Your relaxation time doesn’t have to be extravagant, but it needs to be there. Even 15 minutes every day can make all the difference!

What tools can you use to manage stress positively?

How can you alter your life to protect yourself from stressful situations?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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October 11, 2017

Stress Tips for Dads

Many people think that dads have the easy job, but this is not true.

When you look at the job of a dad you’ll see that they are expected to move easily between their professional and family lives, all the while remaining calm, relaxed, productive, and attentive.

If you’re a dad you are likely experiencing stress on a daily or weekly basis.

There are some great stress management tips that you can work into your life so you can continue to be the very best dad you can be, regardless of how old your children are.

Stress Relief Tips Just For Dads

Make sure that you are taking care of yourself.

Not only does your family count on you being well, so does your employer, friends, and others. Eat right, get enough sleep, and make sure you are taking vitamins.

When you combine these things, you help to fight off stress by building up your immune system so you are more likely to be healthy.

Be a member of a team.

Make your family your team. If you try to do everything on your own, you will suffer burnout in short order.

When everyone pitches in around the house, you will find that you have a lot less stress overall and you can be a more attentive and involved father.

Make time management a priority.

When you are a parent you have a lot of different things vying for your time. That’s why you’ll want to manage your time well so you can be where you need to be, when you need to be there.

You can do simple things to make your life and the lives of your family members easier. For example, create a chores schedule, work together with your spouse to prepare meals ahead of time, or create a schedule to pick up the kids.

When you manage your time you will be able to get more done without the headaches.

Create a support network.

When you are stressed out or angry you should be able to talk to someone to vent. Sometimes just being able to say how you are feeling or what is stressing you out can help a lot.

Your support network can consists of your spouse, friends, or even family members.

Communicate with your spouse.

When you have kids it can be difficult to get a full thought out in one breath because of constant interruptions. That’s all the more reason to make a concerted effort to communicate well with your spouse.

This will allow you to work better as a team so the family unit functions well, but it will also help you be attentive to one another’s needs. After all, you need to love and support each other first!

Being a dad is a rewarding experience, but it can also be stressful at times. The strategies mentioned above can be worked into any dad’s schedule so stress is always kept in check.

When you start to incorporate these strategies into your life, everyone will benefit because a relaxed dad is a friendly, interactive, and present dad and that is what every child wants and needs from both of their parents.

The great thing about these stress tips for dads is that they are easy to incorporate into your life, so becoming less stressed doesn’t need to be a stressful experience!

Take action, today, to proactively manage your stress and your entire family will benefit.

How does your family really know that they come first in your life?

How can you invite more peaceful moments into your life?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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