Why alarms can be your best friend.
How can setting an alarm eliminate your stress?
If you have stubborn fat and are having trouble losing weight, stress is most always the culprit. And if you are a busy mom, your life is probably insanely stressful. The stress is revving up your cortisol and keeping your body in fight or flight mode. While this is helpful I’m emergency situations, it is terrible for your body in every day life.
One way that you’re probably stressed out beyond the maximum is most likely due to trying to remember everything. My bet is that you’re the one that handles everything from emergencies and doctor appointments to bills and vacations. You’re responsible for everyone and everything all of the time. That is way too much to put on yourself and your brain. You’re not made to handle it all nor should you have to!
And before you can start losing stubborn fat, you need to get that cortisol lowered ASAP.
So why use alarms?
Who likes the sound of an alarm? It’s so awful and stressful. How in the world could it actually help with stress?
All of us have been to the point where we dread that sound of the alarm. Even if you make the alarm a pleasant sound, you grow to hate that sound because it means getting up and starting your day. That sound is like a hammer to the temple. It’s a reminder that you can’t stay in your comfortable bed and do nothing all day. It’s the dreaded reminder that you must, once again, put clothes on and be responsible. It’s even worse if you haven’t slept at all or barely slept. The sound of the alarm can just shoot a stress bolt through your body and ruin your day before it even begins.
So, if the alarm is so bad, how can it help alleviate stress? What if you would pair that sound with something good? What if that alarm could help you organize your entire life? What if that alarm could keep you from trying to multitask so very much every day. What if the alarm could really help you unwind and finally start enjoying life?
With a busy life as a single Mom, I feel like I never have enough hands. I’m always torn so many places and between so many people. There’s constantly something to remember. All of this remembering pulls me in so many directions and I get stressed out before my day even begins. I even am stressed going to bed. Too much to remember, too little time. What a mess every single day. My days have been so chaotic and messy in my journey through motherhood.
If you are like me and have a really hard time keeping everything organized and and running smoothly, alarms could be the answer!
Why is an alarm a good thing?
What if you had the power to acquire a personal assistant for free!
Setting an alarm to remind you of something is like having a personal assistant. You know for a fact that assistant is going to tell you when to do that specific task. This eliminates the need for you to keep that in your memory, along with 100 other things you’re trying to remember for the day. As soon as you set that alarm, it disappears from your brain and clears up some space. This can relax you and make you feel a whole lot less stressed throughout the day. You can focus on the task at hand and no longer have to keep reminding yourself of things you have to do.
Here are the top 10 ways an alarm can be your Saving Grace:
1. Create a family digital calendar that has an alarm or reminder.
The calendar that I use is called family tree. Every single person in my house has this app on their phone. If they come up to me and tell me to remember a school event or a soccer game for instance, I tell them to put it in the family tree app. As soon as they put it in, everyone in the family can see it. This is amazing as your kids get older and they can see the calendar and see everything you have planned. I don’t know how many times I’ve asked my kids the annoying question of “What time is your game?”, “What day is your test?” etc. They always get annoyed with me and I always forget as soon as I ask them. Having this calendar helps eliminate that and takes all the stress of the craziness with schedules out of your brain.
2. Put an alarm on your phone for every bill that needs paid.
And make sure that you put the alarm enough days in advance that you know you will have the money to pay it. I have alarms for bills on payday. I have split the bills in two on the days that I am getting paid. I am reminded to pay the bills and they are never late anymore! This has been amazing for my ADD brain.
3. Set alarms to make sure that you eat and drink.
This may seem silly and kind of ridiculous, but it is so important! I was getting a lot of UTIs and kidney infections simply because I was forgetting to drink all day long. This is pretty common with ADHD and ADD brains. We forget to eat and drink throughout the day. Sugar crashes and exhaustion is a huge problem for people that forget to eat and drink as well. Now that I have alarms in my phone three times a day to make sure that I am drinking and eating. I feel a lot better throughout the day. This is especially helpful if you are dehydrated and can’t seem to remember to drink water.
4. Make sure you take your vitamins!
I have an alarm in my phone for my vitamins and for my kids vitamins. I was constantly forgetting to give them their vitamins every day and to take mine. Eventually you may get in such a habit from the alarm that you can eliminate the alarm altogether. You will start taking your vitamins the same time every single day without even realizing it. It just becomes a habit.
Exercise.
5. Set an alarm to exercise every single day when you know you have a few minutes.
The exercises don’t have to be a lot, they can be small and short exercises. But this is enough to give you your dopamine boost for the day and give you a great day.
6. Pick up and drop off for the kids.
As a single mother, everything falls on me. And I mean everything! It is a lot to keep track of. And with four kids needing picked up and dropped off at multiple locations constantly throughout the week it was getting out of control. When I put alarms on my phone for pick up and drop off at events and school functions, it helped a ton! Make sure that you are putting the alarm in your phone ahead of time so that you have some time to get ready and go out the door.
Different tones.
I have different sounds in my phone for my alarms than I do for text messages and email alerts. My email and app alerts are on a very low setting so they do not disrupt me. I can get to them when I have time. My alarms for the kids important things are a lot louder. They get my attention because I need to do them ASAP. I make sure that I do pick pleasant sounds for everything that I do so that it doesn’t spike my cortisol levels whenever I hear it. That would be counterproductive to set alarms that destress you. So make sure you pick something that sounds pleasant and relaxing.
7. Make yourself a priority!
Set an alarm for something that you really want to do or love to do as well. And stick to it! It could be something simple like styling your hair, painting your nails, or picking a nice outfit. It can even be something like going for your favorite drive or getting your favorite coffee. But put an alarm in your phone for a certain day of the week to make sure that you make yourself a priority. Even if it’s for five minutes!
8. Eye Dr and Regular Check Ups
Remembering Dr appointments has been a huge challenge for me. I would get the little card they hand you for the next appointment and throw it in my purse. Before you know it, it’s that time to go again and I completely forgot. Don’t rely on your memory! Put the appointment in your phone calendar and make sure you set it as an alarm a few days or a week before. This saves so much time and stress trying to remember. If I didn’t set alarms for Dr appointments, I’d lose my mind! I have to remember them for everyone in my house. That’s a lot of appointments.
9. House Maintenance
A lot of people don’t realize boys much time we waste trying to remember every day things. House maintenance is one of them. How often do you walk past the same burnt out light? Or walk pat the same squeaky door? It can drive you nuts and really drive up your stress level seeing the same thing on repeat and telling yourself you’ll remember to get to it.
Just simply set an alarm! Set aside just 10-30 minutes once a week for one house project. Not only will this take just a tiny fraction out of your day, it will eliminate such a huge mental load! You probably don’t even realize how much stress you’re adding to your life by walking past something that needs done and telling yourself you’ll remember! There’s no need to do that to yourself. Just set an alarm for one small thing at a time. Once you complete it, you’ll increase your dopamine and get a free healthy dose of antidepressant too.
10. Car maintenance
If you’re like me, you’re constantly forgetting to keep up with car maintenance. And when you add teens driving, there’s even more vehicles to keep up with. With little to no maintenance or forgetting maintenance, this can lead to big trouble. By simply putting an alarm in your phone to change your oil, for example, it is off your mental load and you’ll still remember to get it done. This also saves money from nasty car problems brought about by lack of maintenance like oil changes and tire pressure checks.
Alarms don’t have to be a bad thing, they can really help reduce stress in your life!
Do yourself a favor and never ever add more to your mental load by saying you’ll remember something. Not only are you going to beat yourself up when you realize later you didn’t remember, your life is going to be so much harder and a mess if you keep forgetting.
You don’t need to remember everything! Don’t do that to yourself. Use your free personal assistant and set alarms! You’ll be so surprised at how much smoother your life runs once you declutter your brain.
Learn to love your love today and be happy. You deserve it!
Remember, don’t just survive, thrive!