5 Ways to Lighten Your Mental Load Today

Here are some tips to manage your time as a team to stress less and live more!

1. Focus on sharing the management of the household. Clinical psychologist Lina Perl, Psy.D., recommends talking about it like this: 

“I feel uncomfortable delegating activities—it's a big job to be a manager. I'd rather we look at what needs to be done and decide together how to divide it up. Then I won't feel like I'm nagging everyone all the time.” (-mindbodygreen.com, 2019)

2. List the things you physically do, and also the things you’re responsible for: "...menu planning, presents for family, researching holidays. Divide up the responsibilities, not just the tasks. And bear in mind: you have to accept this may result in some bumps in the road at first (dirty dishes may linger until the new dishwasher of the family appears!) - otherwise you’re still project managing. If you have too much on your plate, divvying these responsibilities out can reduce the mental load.” (-Forbes.com, 2020)

3. Stop feeling guilty about not fitting more in during small windows of time throughout your day. "(five minutes here, two minutes there, between everything else you’ve got going on), be explicit about who’s in charge of the kids at any one time. This makes sure both parents get real chunks of time.” (Forbes.com) 

4. Set realistic expectations for you and your partner. "To have a house like those in the magazines requires two things: (1) a huge amount of labour (usually women's and usually unpaid); and (2) to never be at home to mess it up.” (abcnews.com, 2019)

4. “Practice non-judgement. This includes your friends, your family and yourself. Have a friend who always picks her child up three minutes after childcare closes? Stop judging. Have a friend who never irons her clothes? Stop judging. Rather, start accepting and shifting the norms about domesticity.” (abcnews.com, 2021)

5. Lastly, check out our suggestions for healthy communication with your partner on instagram for how you can reclaim your time and tackle the mental load together🙏