How to Beat Boredom As a New Mom
When you first become a mom, everything seems new and exciting. For starters, you’re a mom. Yay! But after you have the first couple of weeks down, your days can easily flow into a blur of feeding the baby, soothing the baby, and watching reality TV with the baby. Translation: It can get really boring. Chase the new mom blahs away with these ideas to keep yourself happily occupied during your maternity leave or as a newly minted stay-at-home parent.
1. Create the ultimate to-do list. This isn’t just the list of things you need to get done today, but rather a list of all the things you want to accomplish in the next year. Make good on the quiet hours you have while your baby naps and spend some time focusing on what you really want to do. Make it as far reaching or as laser focused as you want. This may include something as simple (but equally as time-consuming) as finally organizing all of your pics on your computer or something as serious as charting the next step in your career.
2.Get out there. It’s so easy to become a happy shut-in when you first come home with your baby, but once your body has healed and your baby is over the brand-spanking-new stage of infancy, try getting out of the house at least once a day. Being social, or at least among other people, can do wonders for your energy level and your mood. If you’re not sure where to start, try going for a quick walk around the neighborhood or making lunch plans with work friends.
3. Learn something new. From figuring out how to macrame to learning how to code, the knowledge universe is your oyster. Even better, you can sign up for online classes (that you can pause, if needed) and chip away at a new skill one day at a time.
4. Deep clean. If you’re still feeling those nesting vibes, turn them into something productive. Instead of looking at the whole house as an intimidating task, try picking just one area of a room each day and clean it like it’s never been cleaned before. Take your time moving through each room and organize as you clean. Bonus: When your newborn grows into a curious crawler, you’ll be happy you took care of this earlier.
5. Take a class on your own. This is an outing sans baby. You need to remember what it’s like to be a single-functioning life form. From yoga to painting, sign up for a class that can work around your schedule, like when a friend or family member can step in to help out with the baby for an hour or two.
6. Explore your city. If your baby does well in the car, plan an auto safari around your city when most of the waking world is at work. Drive to a new-to-you neighborhood and take your baby out to explore. Sightsee from the car or plan ahead to stroll through a new park or museum.
7. Throw a small get-together. Invite the people you miss seeing all the time to come over for apps and drinks. It’s a great way to stay social and have all of your creature comforts within arms reach. If the thought of cleaning and cooking for company is just too much, consider ordering delivery or asking a good friend to come over and help out so you can stress less about the prep work.
Tweet us your best tips for keeping new-mom boredom at bay @BritandCo!
(Photos via Getty)