A few weeks ago I got a comment from a friend who was feeling overwhelmed and like her work in the home is just plain pointless sometimes. And my heart went out to her! 

Last week I addressed the first part of her question: When Your Work Just Doesn't Feel Worthwhile. In that episode I addressed the heart aspect of it. And today, I want to address the practical parts of her question. Where can you turn to for help when life seems overwhelming? 

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Here's her question: 

“Jami, I’ve really been struggling with something lately, and was hoping you’d have some advice for me. Lately, I’ve been so tired. Just tired of the everyday. I get up and feed the kids, then the baby, then do laundry, dishes, a bit of school work, change diapers, feed everyone lunch, and so on and so on. It feels like 80% of my time is spent dealing with feeding my family whether it’s prep, cooking, eating with them, or cleaning up afterwards. I go to bed dreading the next day because I think “I have to get up in 7 hours just to do all this again”. Seriously, I am missing the point here. I don’t feel like I am doing important work, and when I consider the possibility that what I’m doing is important, I don’t think I’m doing it right. I mean most days I’m lucky if I get any work done at all or the kids get a bath that night. Sometimes it’s several days before they get another one. I know that’s not super important but I think it get the point across a bit more. If this all makes sense, please help me see the point or bigger picture in all this drudgery!”

I think she has a lot of different emotions and feelings going on in this question (which is why I'm taking two whole podcasts to address it). So we are going to discuss a few different things. 

Make sure you are taking care of yourself

This is one of the first things that stands out to me from what she said. She's tired, tired, tired. I have been there so many times over the past few years that I have been so so wiped out simply because I'm not taking care of myself the way I should. I used to be able to get by without a lot of exercise and not eating well. But after five babies and getting older...I NEED to take care of my physical needs. 

And the last three months I've actually been eating really well. I've been making myself eat more vegetables, fish, and actually sit down for lunch. This simple act has already had a big impact on my energy levels and how I feel. 

When I'm done breastfeeding, Jason and I are going to do this 12 day herbal cleanse. He did it already back in January and loved it (it even helped him lose weight)! 

And as I type this, I am SHOCKED to admit that Magnolia is now over three months old and I haven't worked out once since she was born. Wowza! So this is a big thing I am going to try to work into my schedule more the next few months. I know my body needs it and my energy will eventually thank me for it. I have Lindsay Brin's Post Natal Slimdown that I did after my second set of twins and LOVE it!! I've also heard wonderful things about Trim Healthy Mama's new workout DVD's! 

Set some goals in your home

It is seriously discouraging when you are aimless in our home. When you wonder around, just keeping up on things. It's easy to feel discouraged and like you are not working towards anything. So I like to set goals, even if it's cleaning goals or reading goals. 

Setting goals helps me to keep track of things, cross things off a list,