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Before my son was born, I remember being able to lay in bed all day when I was sick. I could sleep as much as I wanted to and rest my body. The last time that happened was 17 years ago. As a single mother, I can’t stay in bed as before. I have to get up and take care of the kids.
They are teenagers now, so it’s a little easier to lay down for a bit. However, I still have to chauffeur them around (I can’t WAIT for my son to get his license in March), cook meals, and make sure I am there if they need anything. Even though I can’t rest 100%, I have found ways to help me get better.
- Rest my eyes whenever possible – As I said before, it’s better now that they are older, but I still have to be a parent. When I had to drive them around to their different activities, I would close my eyes while I waited for them. If the weather was nice, I remained in the car and closed my eyes. When they went to bed, I would as well right after.
- Drink tons of fluids, especially hot teas with honey – I tend to suffer from strep throat, so I always made an effort to drink more water and hot tea. Even though I love dairy, I would try to restrict how much of it I ate or drank during this time.
- Meditate more often – A good friend of mine got me meditating a few years back, and I will always thank him for that. Whenever I started feeling stressed that I couldn’t rest even if I were really sick, I would take the time to meditate also if it was for a couple of minutes. This would help me calm my nerves, especially during times where I had to be out and about all day.
- Eat soup until I felt better – I am a huge fan of eating pho or ramen when I am feeling less than perfect. There have been studies that chicken noodle soup actually does help make you feel better. I have never liked it since I was a kid, so I prefer pho or ramen. It will also help build your kids’ palate.
- Ask for help – There was one time that I felt terrible, and so I asked my sister for help. They came over and helped with the kids. I tend to hate asking for anything because I do not want to be an inconvenience to anyone. However, I had to put my feelings aside so that I could feel better about being a mother to my children. I couldn’t in the state I was in, so I had my sister help. If you are a single mother with no family around, see if a friend can help even for an hour.
I am lucky that I have never gotten severely sick since I’ve had kids except for that one time when my sister came to help. If I do, then hopefully it’s in a month when my son has his license and can run errands and chauffeur his sister around.
Featured Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash
