삼성서울병원

In modern society, women are playing various roles. Some of them are chosen at will, but others are chosen only because there is no other option. For example, working moms have to be a multi-player not by their choice; they have to take care of their children, attend to their parents and family, and take responsibility at work. As the expectations for modern women become higher, the level of stress and pressure that working moms feel rises as well. They have to perform well at work, and there are always going to be some dinner gatherings and extra training sessions they have to attend after work for their career and promotion. Even after work, there is no time for rest and relaxation due to the childcare and house chores waiting for them. Worse yet, there is no free weekend when it comes to housework and parenting. Despite their enormous sacrifices, working moms can easily be frustrated by the thought that they would not be able to meet the expectations of their family and even themselves, for not being able to juggle both homemaking and work at the same time.

In 2013, a statistical agency conducted a survey of 1,000 working mothers about their level of stress. Surprisingly, the result showed that more than 55% of the respondents scored 5, with 5 being the highest scale. This result tells us that so many working moms are under extreme stress. Working moms often do not know whether they are in a stressful situation because stress is a regular part of their lives. In a hectic life without having any time to themselves, working moms have no time to think about what they really want.

As their level of stress increases, working moms may feel that their balance of life is broken, and there are various signs of stress rising to the surface, such as:

Stress management is very important for working moms. It is not an exaggeration to say that stress management is essential for peace at home and improved performance at work. Most importantly, there is a study showing that the stress of the working mom can sometimes be transmitted to their children, possibly causing depression in them. But we all know that we do not have a ‘Superman’ who would resolve all of our stress issues. Thus, working moms have to be smart and manage their stress by employing several self-control strategies for stress. I would suggest a few tips that working moms could use when coping with their stress in the six categories below:

Setting a goal is the beginning of a healthy stress management strategy. However, for someone who is truly exhausted at the moment, setting a few simple goals can be too much of an undertaking at times. The following guidelines may help you start step by step.

• 1
  Look back on the signs of stress and your life
   
• 2
  Set a goal and figure out what is needed to achieve that goal
   
• 3
  Set measurable targets that help achieve your goals
   
• 4
  Check what resources you can use and, if needed, ask for help
   
• 5
  Set time limits for the goals
   
• 6
  Evaluate the progress and make adjustments to your plan, if necessary