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I put a lot of pressure on myself sometimes. I have these big expectations of what I imagined being a stay at home mom would be like. The perfect Pinterest crafts and learning with my children. The house always mostly picked up. Hot food always ready when my husband walked in the door. My expectations for myself were huge, and truthfully, quite impossible. With little children always running around, a baby to be cared for, and a job to be done at home, some days it’s just enough to get all my work done and my children fed. I realized that the pressure I was putting on myself was just that, something I was doing to myself. No one was expecting these things of me, but me. The pressure was unnecessarily weighing me down and causing me to feel overwhelmed and I felt like I was drowning under my never ending list of to-dos.

I had to let things go.

That was it. It was a simple solution. I had to be okay with letting some things go, letting some expectations go, and being okay with that. I realized that allowing myself to take the pressure off in some areas, could help me better enjoy the little things that really mattered. Letting go of the expectations freed me up to embrace what really matters.

I’m sure you can relate. I am sure you know what it feels like to be buried under a never ending list. So if you need a little help letting go of some expectations and embracing what really matters here are some tips:

Take the pressure off. Before you can embrace anything else around you, you have to let go of the pressure. Most of the time, we are putting it on ourselves, so it’s time we take it off. What are you asking yourself to do that really isn’t that important? What expectations are you putting on yourself when it comes to your responsibilities? If you don’t get something done, are you beating yourself up for it? Allow yourself to look at what you have to do without pressure. When you have a different perspective, you can let things go just a bit easier.

Share the load. This is the simplest solution of the all. Share the load with someone. Do you have kids who are old enough to help? Use them! You don’t have to pick up all the socks and shoes down the hallway a hundred times a day, teach them to do it! Teaching your kids to have responsibility is a great thing! I talked to my husband and told him some things had to go off my plate and I needed his help. I was burying myself alive expecting myself to do everything. I had to be okay with asking for help.

Embrace simple solutions. What is one solution you can embrace today to take the load off? My local Schnucks offers Simple Solution Family Meals. The meal comes with a whole roasted chicken, sides, and a Coca-Cola™. It’s an entire meal right there and you didn’t even have to cook it! I walked in and it was already made! We chose some sides to go along with it, picked up one of our favorite bags of salad from Schnucks, and we had the perfect family dinner. I wasn’t stressed about getting everything cooked and ready and I was able to really enjoy dinner with my family.

It sounds so funny that these three simple steps can make a difference, but they do. We are so good at placing unnecessary pressure on ourselves that wear us down. But if we embrace simple solutions and allow ourselves to let things go, we can truly take a hold of the little things that matter right in front of us.

What simple solution can you embrace today?