7 Tips to Manage Your Stress While Adopting

by | Jul 24, 2017 | Adoptive Families Blog

Get Lifetime's tips on managing your stress while adoptingStress is part of our everyday life. But when you add in the process of adopting, stress can feel more intense.  No matter what your path to adoption is, there’s a lot of work and time involved in the process. 

Stress can be positive: it increases our productivity and senses, two very important things during your adoption process. But too much stress can create problems, both physical and emotional. By learning how to handle your adoption stress in a positive way now, you’ll have better stress management habits once you’re juggling a new child into your routine.

Here are 7 tips for managing your adoption stress in a healthy way:

  1. Get organized, both with your adoption process, your work, and your time. There are a wealth of free organizational tools and apps out there, or you can keep it simple and put pen to paper. Once you find a system that works for you, stick to it.
  1. Get some exercise in! Even if it’s just a quick 30-minute walk in the morning, it’ll help increase your endorphins. There’s no need to buy exercise equipment, join a gym, or hire a trainer. Not only is physical fitness good for our bodies and our mind, it’s also a great habit to have for your family’s sake in the future.

  2. Keep a journal: write in detail your feelings and thoughts about stressful events, as one would when discussing topics in therapy. This is an especially useful tool for visual people! Once you’ve gotten all of your feelings and issues down on paper, you can then brainstorm solutions. OR, you might choose to keep a daily gratitude journal, and write three (or more) parts of your day that you’re grateful for. 
  1. Get enough sleep each night; for most people, that’s at least 7 hours. When you’re sleep-deprived, even the smallest dilemmas seem huge. Lack of sleep can even magnify other stressors.  So, make sure to prioritize your rest, because you will have sleepless nights soon with a little one!
  1. Add healthy stress relievers to your daily routine, like meditation, yoga, prayer, or sitting in nature.  These activities will quiet your mind and help you refocus. Avoid using alcohol to relax: it wrecks your decision-making ability and interferes with your sleep.
  1. Eat healthy foods and avoid processed ones. Think about it this way, if you’re eating junk food that you wouldn’t let your future child eat, you probably shouldn’t be eating it either! Make sure to eat plenty of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains throughout your day.  By getting your daily dose of protein, vitamin C, Vitamin A, and B Vitamins, you’re helping to protect your body from the effects of stress.
  2. Talk about your feelings, hopes, dreams, and worries. Developing a support group of friends, family members, or your spouse may help. If you feel like your emotions are no longer manageable, we recommended that you seek a counselor for professional solutions. 

Putting these healthy, stress-busting habits in place now will give you more energy, focus, and increase your overall productivity for your adoption and beyond! 

 

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Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P.

Written by Mardie Caldwell, C.O.A.P.

Founder of Lifetime Adoption, adoptive mom, adoption expert, and Certified Open Adoption Practitioner (C.O.A.P).

Since 1986, adoption expert Mardie Caldwell has been dedicated to bringing couples and birth parents together in order to fulfill their dreams.

“Many years ago, I was also searching for a child to adopt. We didn’t know where or how to get started. Through research, determination, and a prayer, our dream of a family became reality. I started with a plan, a notebook, assistance from a caring adoption consultant and a lot of hard work; this was my family I was building. We had a few heartaches along the way, but the pain of not having children was worse!

Within weeks we had three different birth mothers choose us. We were overwhelmed and delighted. Many unsettling events would take place before our adoption would be finalized, many months later. Little did I know that God was training and aligning me for the adoption work I now do today. It is my goal to share with our families the methods and plans which succeed and do not succeed. I believe adoption should be affordable and can be a wonderful “pregnancy” for the adoptive couple.

I have also been on both sides of infertility with the loss of seven pregnancies and then conceiving by new technology, giving birth to a healthy daughter. I have experienced first-hand the emotional pain of infertility and believe my experience allows me to serve your needs better.

It is my hope that for you, the prospective parents, your desire for a child will be fulfilled soon.”

Read More About Mardie Caldwell

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