Exhausted?  Conquer the day with this survival guide.

A parent’s work never ends even after you go to bed. An uninterrupted night of sleep is never guaranteed, even as your kids grow older.  From nightmares, thunderstorms or illness it’s not uncommon to wake up multiple times in the night with kids.

Yet those littles of yours rise and shine the next morning and expect you to seize the day right along with them. Do you find your day to be just as rough as the night before?  

This is what you need to do to survive the day after a sleepless night with kids.

Survival Guide After A Sleepless Night

How do you survive the day when you have bags under your eyes the size of real grocery bags and your body feels as limp as a crumpled up blanket. You conquer the day.  Let’s see how you can survive…and thrive after being up all night with kids.

Mentally Conquer The Day

They say you can’t control what happens to you but you can control how you react to it.  This thought can greatly help you survive your day after a sleepless night.

When you’re exhausted it’s natural to lean towards negative thoughts.  You child probably gets cranky when they are tired.  Adults can too.  Combat negative thinking with positive thoughts.  

You can’t control what happens to you but you can control how you react to it.  Control your reaction with positivity.

Accentuate the Positive Thoughts

Shift your thinking to change your perspective on the situation.  When you start to hear negative words in your thoughts, switch those words to the opposite.

For example, when you think “I can’t” think “I can.”  When you think “don’t” think “do” when you think “I won’t” think “I will.” 

Mentally conquer the day by seeing things as the glass half full instead of half empty. You’re running on low fuel and might be tempted to see a bad day ahead.  What are the glass half full moments?  

Perhaps you’re tired but get extra snuggle time with your child.  Maybe your productivity is lower but it’s a beautiful day outside. Appreciate these bright spots in your day.

Shifting your mindset to positive thinking is the first step towards  surviving the day after being up all night with kids.  Without it you’d be stuck in a pile of negativity that can take its hold on you and affect your mood during the day.

Eliminate The Negative Thoughts

You may find the more you think positively the less the negative thoughts creep into your mind.  When you eliminate the negativity the day might feel better to get through even though you’re tired.  

With a better mood comes an uplifted attitude, which helps you survive too. Tending to your kids might not feel like a chore.  You might not be counting down the hours till bedtime.  You might find yourself getting work done.

With less negativity not only will you survive the day you will thrive too!  Now let’s look at actual strategies or life hacks to help you conquer the day!

Life Hack To Conquer The Day

Let’s not dismiss the fact that you’re actually tired.   The strategies in this survival guide takes that into account. It also recognizes that life goes on whether you slept 8 hours or 3.  In other words, here are some things you can do to make the most of your day and get things accomplished, even if you just feel like curling up in a ball to take a nap.

You Can’t Do It All

Recognize that you can’t and shouldn’t do it all.  It’s okay!  You’re not a failure if you don’t get to everything on your to-do list.  We all know as parents not everything goes as planned.  Ever have plans to go to Thanksgiving dinner only to have your child get sick on the way to Grandma’s house?  Kids throw wrenches into our plans so we just have to keep adapting and making changes.

If you have a to-do list a mile long and you had a sleepless night look at your plans for the day and make changes.  What are the essential things that need to happen?  What are the things that can wait?

Focus on the most important items and save the rest for later.

Let Go Of The Guilt

Do you know the song “let it go, let it go…”  Let that be your anthem on days you’re coming off of a bad night’s sleep.

Let go of the struggle of not feeling up to doing everything because of low energy.  Only bite off what you can chew and be proud of that.  No need to feel guilty!

Focus on what you can and did do and let go of the rest.

Go Halfsies On Sleep When Your Child Sleeps

You heard the phrase, “sleep when the baby sleeps.” That is good advice to follow.  But also hard!  Have you ever tried to sleep during your child’s nap time thinking you’ll catch some zzz’s only to start focusing on all of the work you could or should be getting done while they nap?  But then you think you really should nap since you’re tired? It’s a vicious thought cycle.

It is possible to do both!  You understand the need to rest when your baby is napping but also have the desire to get chores done without having to juggle a child.  Try doing both. How do you do that?

After you put your child down quickly do a chore that is easy and short in duration.   Basically, something that doesn’t take too long to get done.  When the chore is completed take your own nap. Crossing off one thing from your list helps you relax.

Set Realistic Expectations

When your child has really bad sleep and is crabby the rule of thumb is to lower your expectations of them.  Perhaps they are easy going on good days but when they are tired they are less flexible.  On those days you know not to expect much from them.

When you had a sleepless night apply that same idea to yourself.  What are your realistic expectations for the day after being up all night?  Perhaps it’s not taking on big projects or going on big outings.  Maybe it’s more realistic to keep things simple.

If your kids watch TV a little bit more or you just stick to the basic daily chores and nothing more on certain days it’s okay.  Give yourself grace that extra screen time won’t hurt anyone.

Delegate and Ask For Help

The term “it takes a village” is very popular and true.  We shouldn’t have to do everything by ourselves.  If you find you’re too tired and can’t get everything done it’s okay.  Call upon your village.

Do you need a break in your day?  Who can you call to watch the kids so you can nap or have quiet time?

Talk to your spouse if you need extra help around the house.  They are perfectly capable of helping with dishes, running errands or picking up.

There is no shame in asking for help and letting others know what you need.

You can survive the day after a sleepless night with kids!  Conquer it! This survival guide helps your mind and gives you strategies to make it through and thrive.