You’re not lazy. You’re overwhelmed.

When you’re burned out, running on low energy, and stretched thin, you don’t need a big transformation—you need gentle tools that meet you where you are.

Here are the low-energy coping tools I reach for on the days when I just. can’t. even.

1. The One-Minute Reset

When you can’t find peace, create a pause.

• Step into another room (even the bathroom)
• Set a 1-minute timer
• Close your eyes. Breathe deep, slow, and intentional.
• Whisper: “I am safe. I am enough. This moment will pass.”

It’s simple, but it can help regulate your nervous system and bring you back into your body.

2. Ground Through the Senses

When everything feels like too much, come back to what you can touch, taste, hear, see, smell.

• Wrap up in a soft blanket
• Sip something warm
• Light a candle or essential oil
• Play calming instrumental music
• Hold a cold spoon or splash your face with water

Your body will believe it’s okay—before your mind catches up.

3. The “Good Enough” List

Forget the to-do list that overwhelms you. Make a new one:

• Feed everyone something
• Keep everyone safe
• Take care of yourself in one small way

If you do only those things, that’s still a win.

4. Lay on the Floor (Yes, Really)

Sometimes your body needs to surrender.

Lay flat on your back, arms stretched out. Let your body feel supported by the ground.
Breathe. Let the earth hold you. No expectations, no productivity—just rest.

5. Text a Friend Without Needing a Response

Send a message like:

“Hey, I’m having a hard day. Don’t need anything, just needed someone to know.”

Being witnessed—even silently—is healing.

6. Let the Kids Watch a Movie Without Guilt

Screen time isn’t failure.
Screen time can be a bridge between chaos and calm. You can take 90 minutes to recharge and still be a deeply loving, intentional mom.

7. Choose One Nourishing Thing (and Make it Easy)

Nourishment doesn’t mean kale and journaling (unless that helps).

It can be:

• A protein bar and a glass of water
• Sitting in the sunlight for 5 minutes
• Wrapping yourself in your favorite hoodie
• Letting yourself cry
  You matter too. Especially on the hard days.

You Don’t Have to Be “On” All the Time

The world tells moms to be everything, every day.
But I’m here to say: You’re allowed to fall apart. You’re allowed to slow down. You’re allowed to just survive the day.

Low energy doesn’t mean low worth.
Rest isn’t weakness—it’s wisdom.

Gentle Reminder:
“I don’t have to do it all. I just have to take the next kind step toward myself.”

The post Low-Energy Coping Tools for High-Stress Days appeared first on moms chaos corner.

PTSD happens in many different ways, such as traumatic events. These can be like any of the following:

• car accidents
• birth
• major injuries
• death of a loved one
• loss of an animal
• sexual assault
• rape
• sexual abuse
• domestic violence
• neglect as a child
• homelessness
• war overseas(military)
• verbal abuse
• violence in general

There are more, these are just the most common

PTSD doesn’t just affect veterans

It affects more of the population than anyone realizes

What does life look like for someone with PTSD

Depending on the level of trauma, typically higher anxiety and depression

Guilt– Even if they are not in the wrong, guilt will weigh heavily if something goes wrong

Anxiety– can be from large groups of people, or a current situation, sometimes this is a daily occurrence and always be anxious about something going wrong

Depression- a lot of the time with depression, we tend to feel like we are a failure, and when things don’t go right it makes us feel worse and about the size of a grain of salt

Triggers– usually caused by anything recognized by the 5 senses that takes them to a time that was a traumatic experience to them

Insomnia– With heightened levels of anxiety, it becomes hard to sleep with constant thinking

A different perspective than most

Once experiencing something traumatic, you tend to think deeper about everything

It’s more difficult to take things with a grain of salt, everything you hear is processed on a deeper level

At the same time, it makes you stronger, more resilient to life’s punches

Sometimes, with living with PTSD, it makes trusting and loving even more difficult, especially if someone close to you causes or contributed to the trauma

The healing process

Healing from any sort of trauma can be difficult and always takes time

There is no good way to gauge how long it takes to heal, honestly, that is left to the mind of the person

The time it takes to recover from trauma, which has different stages is not voluntary

There is no expert that can tell you exactly how long it takes, nor what works for each individual person

This much I know, after getting professional help for the last 5-6 years, they can guess, they give you temporary bandaids like medication to help you in the meantime

Medications have proved helpful, once I found the one that worked best for me

They do the best they can, every situation is different and no matter how many workbooks you do, your body and mind has to heal on it’s own time

There are also different factors that apply to the recovery, such as age it happened, seriousness of the traumatic event and level of damage it causes mentally or physically

The best thing i have found is to either block it out and move forward, accept what happened and make a change to your life that eliminates the possibility of a reoccurance, and confiding in a trustworthy person

Personally, I find it difficult to work with a counselor, i have yet to have a single consistent counselor, even for my (step)children

The body and mind heals itsself over time in it’s own ways, the best way to help is find someone you can trust to talk to, remove yourself far from where it happened, and give yourself the grace to heal, in a healthy way

Try not to let depression eat you alive, and find happiness where you can

Those with PTSD tend to be harder on themselves, and need support

Professional help is great, but the real support comes from your family, whether its your mom or your spouse

It’s important to have a lifeline of support when you need it

As a person with different types of trauma (car accident, rape, sexual abuse, recovering addict) I have found support on the home front is the most important thing

With all the bad life deals, there are days that are so depressing it’s hard to leave bed, let alone wake up

Yes, even with children

It doesn’t mean I don’t love them

My own brain, tends to occasionally go into shut down mode from trying to rest to where I could sleep for 24 hours and still be exhausted

There is a guilt carried, even though I’m not at fault for the trauma i’ve been dealt, I tend to wonder what I could have done to prevent it and I carry guilt

How can you help a person with PTSD?

• Let them know you’re there to hear them out and help
• Offer to help with daily tasks if you can
• Check in on them occasionally
• Let them know they are important
• Tell them they are loved

While these are a few things, these types of things are huge to people who struggle with everyday life

Sometimes there are days where it feels like an internal battle to leave the bed or take a shower

Doing some of these things for someone with trauma can make a huge difference.

I hope you found this post helpful and I would love to hear your story, because life is tough and the world is too.

Feel free to email me or connect on social media

The post life of moms with ptsd appeared first on moms chaos corner.

Depending on the level of trauma, typically higher anxiety and depression

Guilt– Even if they are not in the wrong, guilt will weigh heavily if something goes wrong

Anxiety– can be from large groups of people or a current situation; sometimes this is a daily occurrence and always be anxious about something going wrong

Depression- a lot of the time with depression, we tend to feel like we are a failure, and when things don’t go right, it makes us feel worse and about the size of a grain of salt

Triggers– usually caused by anything recognized by the 5 senses that takes them to a time that was a traumatic experience to them

Insomnia– With heightened levels of anxiety, it becomes hard to sleep with constant thinking

A different perspective than most

Once experiencing something traumatic, you tend to think deeper about everything

It’s more difficult to take things with a grain of salt; everything you hear is processed on a deeper level

At the same time, it makes you stronger, more resilient to life’s punches

Sometimes, living with ptsd makes trusting and loving even more difficult, especially if someone close to you caused or contributed to the trauma

The healing process

Healing from any sort of trauma can be difficult and always takes time

There is no good way to gauge how long it takes to heal, honestly; that is left to the mind of the person

The time it takes to recover from trauma, which has different stages is not voluntary

There is no expert that can tell you exactly how long it takes, nor what works for each individual person

This much I know, after getting professional help for the last 5-6 years, they can guess, they give you temporary band-aids like medication to help you in the meantime

Medications have proved helpful once I found the one that worked best for me

They do the best they can, every situation is different, and no matter how many workbooks you do, your body and mind have to heal on their own time

There are also different factors that apply to the recovery, such as age it happened, seriousness of the traumatic event, and level of damage it causes mentally or physically

The best thing I have found is to either block it out and move forward, accept what happened and make a change to your life that eliminates the possibility of a reoccurrence, or confiding in a trustworthy person

Personally, I find it difficult to work with a counselor. i have yet to have a single consistent counselor, even for my (step)children

The body and mind heal themselves over time in their own ways. The best way to help is to find someone you can trust to talk to, remove yourself far from where it happened, and give yourself the grace to heal in a healthy way

Try not to let depression eat you alive, and find happiness where you can

Those with PTSD tend to be harder on themselves and need support

Professional help is great, but the real support comes from your family, whether it’s your mom or your spouse

It’s important to have a lifeline of support when you need it

As a person with different types of trauma (car accident, rape, sexual abuse, recovering addict) I have found support on the home front is the most important thing

With all the bad life deals, there are days that are so depressing it’s hard to leave bed, let alone wake up

Yes, even with children

It doesn’t mean I don’t love them

My own brain tends to occasionally go into shut down mode from trying to rest to where I could sleep for 24 hours and still be exhausted

There is a guilt carried, even though I’m not at fault for the trauma I’ve been dealt, I tend to wonder what I could have done to prevent it and I carry guilt

How can you help a person with PTSD?

• Let them know you’re there to hear them out and help
• Offer to help with daily tasks if you can
• Check in on them occasionally
• Let them know they are important
• Tell them they are loved

While these are a few things, these types of things are huge to people who struggle with everyday life

Sometimes, there are days where it feels like an internal battle to leave the bed or take a shower

Doing some of these things for someone with trauma can make a huge difference.

I hope you found this post helpful and I would love to hear your story, because life is tough and the world is too.

The post Coping with PTSD: Tips for Support and Healing appeared first on moms chaos corner.

Who has time for that?

How could one possibly take care of oneself while being busy 24/7 with kids?

I get it, nail salons are expensive.

I’m not saying go to a salon every week or anything like that

What I am saying is to start small and remember you can’t pour from an empty cup

It can be difficult to focus on you when you brought other humans in this world

It’s time to stop feeling guilty for doing what you should be doing

Taking care of you

Self-care = health

How is it possible that they are correlated?

Whether you realize it or not, kids can cause some serious anxiety and stress

Lack of self-care affects physical health

Not relieving that stress causes numerous health issues with heart and general health after some time

I’m not a dietician by any means, but living in constant stress makes for a lot of appetite and weight changes

Stress even affects your oral health as well as your eating habits

Lack of self-care affects mental health

As a parent of three, with my own trauma and two of the children having trauma from before they were in my care, mental health is a huge part of my household

When I don’t care for myself, there are times I skip showers, don’t eat, oversleep, and don’t hydrate at all

Anything that involves depriving myself worsens my depression and anxiety, along with irritability

The days you decide to not eat normally, or shower and let things slide over and over, you start to become irritable

All of this trinkles into being unmotivated and sliding further into depression and irritability

There are a few times a week this still happens

My life is overwhelming since my husband works long hours, and the kids are home during quarantine, making things harder

Lack of self-care affects emotional health

This goes back to mental health

Lack of self care induces depression and irritability followed by guilt

The depression leads further into not wanting to do things or leaving bed

Even being medicated, there are weeks like this

Where to start

It can be difficult to know where to start

it seems like most advice encourages going out or going to a salon

While this can be helpful, not everyone is in a position to do these things

Take a minute for yourself and indulge

It is okay to lock the door while you use the bathroom or shower

typically 10-20 minutes will not cause your children harm

sneak away and eat the chocolate you’ve been hiding

Put on a little makeup, I know it makes me feel better

Bonus points if you can get away for a bath

Start a routine

Figure out a routine that includes something you do for yourself for a few minutes

something like washing your face when you get out of bed

maybe brewing coffee and making breakfast for you and your kid(s) even if its just eggs and toast

Finish your day with a face mask or painting your toenails

Keep track

Have a little journal to log what you accomplished for you that day

or even try to schedule out your days with what you would like to do

This journal can be a memo pad

It’s for you, not appointments, not a planner

just a mini book dedicated to you

How to fit it into the mom life

It can be daunting to try to squeeze another thing into the schedule

It is possible to make a few minutes a day to you

Start small

Start with washing your face in the morning

taking a shower alone

sneaking in that chocolate

a glass of wine you enjoy

A few chapters of a book

Include the kiddos

It can be hard to fit anything in the schedule, especially if you are alone most of the time, like me

Paint your toes and your little ones

Have them put cucumbers on their eyes while you wear a face mask

Self-care and mom life do mix (and is necessary)

I know it can seem like a crazy thing to dedicate time to you

mom life seems to have a stereotype of constant dedication to your kids, but it’s not true

The post How to Incorporate Self-Care into Mom Life appeared first on moms chaos corner.

if you are struggling call or text 988 It is a hotline for those seriously struggling.

Flashbacks

typically happens in dreams, when something reminds you of that moment with one of the five senses such as a familiar scent, a sight or a feeling.

Memory lapses

sometimes I will walk in a room and completely forget what I was there for or I’ll forget something I just talked about recently.

Distorted sense of self

can be two different extremes, typically looking like feeling worthless and skewed views or beliefs of self, which I consistently struggle with

Inability to control your emotions

for me a lot of times I get really emotional or upset over small things and will cry or get very angry, and don’t hide it well.

can also be mood swings

Hyperarousal

heightened senses and can cause many parts of the body to work overtime from anxiety mainly

Unexplained upset stomach

high levels of cortisol can cause an upset stomach and interrupt the bowels

the gut and brain are connected which can manifest as an upset stomach

with a diagnosis of GERD and IBS-C, I can attest to the stomach issues

Sleep disturbances

can include insomnia, nightmares, and hypervigilance

most nights I do not sleep through the night will have multiple nightmares or unexplained strange dreams and tend to be on edge a lot

Challenged interpersonal relationships

difficulty trusting others, emotional dysregulation, hypervigilance, and a negative self-image, making it hard to form and maintain healthy connections with others

many times I feel conscious of any perceived imperfections I have, even with constant reassurance they live in My head

a lot of times I feel as though I’m too much or too damaged to be understood or be able to have a good friendship with others

Avoidance of certain circumstances/places

the deliberate act of staying away from people, places, situations, or even thoughts that could trigger memories or feelings related to the traumatic experiences

I moved 1800 miles from my hometown to escape many traumas that occurred, I also avoided cities where trauma occurred where I currently live

Substance use

 Substance use disorders (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are chronic, debilitating conditions that frequently co-occur.

for me and members of my family, this looked like opiates and alcohol use

Low self-esteem

this can be negative thought Patterns, self-doubt, guilt, shame, and denial of feelings

consistently I find myself struggling with catastrophising a lot of things or playing out the worst-case scenario in my head, I fear saying the word love even to those I do love.

Chronic health conditions

Arthritis, Asthma, Gastrointestinal disorders, Cancer, Tinnitus, Fibromyalgia, Headaches, Migraines, Obstructive sleep apnea, and Psoriasis

currently struggling with fibromyalgia, gastro disorders and headaches, it amazes me how much PTSD can reek havoc on the human body

Depersonalization or derealization

Depersonalization is a dissociative symptom that can occur in individuals with PTSD. It is characterized by a persistent or recurrent feeling of detachment from oneself, one’s body, or one’s mental processes. 

Symptoms: 

• Feeling like an observer of one’s own body or mind
• Feeling numb or emotionally detached
• Feeling like one is not in control of one’s thoughts or actions
• Feeling unreal or like a dream
• Feeling disconnected from the world around the

a lot of days just don’t feel real, I struggle at times to really be present everyday

Negative self-perception

People with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) can experience negative self-perception, including low self-esteem, feelings of worthlessness, and negative thought patterns. These negative perceptions can impact how people with PTSD feel about themselves and navigate the world. 

Causes

• Trauma-related cognitive alterations these alterations can include negative thoughts about the self, such as feeling incompetent or helpless. 
• Self-defining memories of the traumatic event can negatively transform a person’s self-concept. 
• Lack of emotional validation People with PTSD may not have felt validated or had a sense of self-worth during their traumatic experiences. 

Symptoms 

• Feeling like you don’t know yourself anymore
• Feeling like you’ll never be able to experience normal emotions again
• Feeling like you’re dead inside
• Feeling like you’re less than others
• Overanalyzing your words and actions

notation I feel isn’t necessary for this one, as this is a big one for me.

Thoughts of suicide

Suicidal feelings can mean having abstract thoughts about ending your life or feeling that people would be better off without you.

Or it can mean thinking about methods of suicide or making clear plans to take your own life. If you are feeling suicidal, you might be scared or confused by these feelings.

while I’ve never attempted or planned, as a child I frequently prayed to not wake up so I wasn’t facing the abuse anymore

Unexplained headaches

this is a stress response to the body dealing with the emotional pain

Autoimmune conditions

stress from PTSD can trigger hormones that alters cytokine production

• Type 1 diabetes
• Lupus erythematosus
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Psoriasis
• Celiac disease

upon writing this post there were somethings I didn’t know until researching this, and felt it should be shared.

the human body is an incredible machine that is really amazing for what it is.

The post What are the 17 symptoms of complex PTSD? appeared first on moms chaos corner.