Captive Mommies

by Albert Alexander

We all have this favorite expression when it comes to being stressed out, and I wouldn’t bother naming all of them since it may also vary in different languages. But when it comes down to it, I think that it is how we work or even relax, for that matter that triggers stress. Ever been stressed even when you’re well relaxed and bored? I know I have.

Since Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. is unavoidable in life, it is important to find ways to decrease and prevent stressful incidents and decrease negative reactions to stress. Here are some of the things that can be done by just remembering it, since life is basically a routine to follow like brushing your teeth or eating breakfast. You can do a few of them in a longer span of time, but as they say– every minute counts.

Managing time

Time management skills can allow you more time with your family and friends and possibly increase your performance and productivity. This will help reduce your stress.

To improve your time management:

-Save time by focusing and concentrating, delegating, and scheduling time for yourself.
-Keep a record of how you spend your time, including work, family, and leisure time.
-Prioritize your time by rating tasks by importance and urgency. Redirect your time to those activities that are important and meaningful to you.
-Manage your commitments by not over- or undercommitting. Don’t commit to what is not important to you.
-Deal with procrastination by using a day planner, breaking large projects into smaller ones, and setting short-term deadlines.
-Examine your beliefs to reduce conflict between what you believe and what your life is like.
Build healthy coping strategies

It is important that you identify your coping strategies. One way to do this is by recording the stressful event, your reaction, and how you cope in a stress journal. With this information, you can work to change unhealthy coping strategies into healthy ones-those that help you focus on the positive and what you can change or control in your life.

Lifestyle

Some behaviors and lifestyle choices affect your stress level. They may not cause stress directly, but they can interfere with the ways your body seeks relief from stress. Try to:

-Balance personal, work, and family needs and obligations.
-Have a sense of purpose in life.
-Get enough sleep, since your body recovers from the stresses of the day while you are sleeping.
-Eat a balanced diet for a nutritional defense against stress.
-Get moderate exercise throughout the week.
-Limit your consumption of alcohol.
-Don’t smoke.

Social support

Social support is a major factor in how we experience stress. Social support is the positive support you receive from family, friends, and the community. It is the knowledge that you are cared for, loved, esteemed, and valued. More and more research indicates a strong relationship between social support and better mental and physical health.

Changing thinking

When an event triggers negative thoughts, you may experience fear, insecurity, anxiety, depression, rage, guilt, and a sense of worthlessness or powerlessness. These emotions trigger the body’s stress, just as an actual threat does. Dealing with your negative thoughts and how you see things can help reduce stress.

-Thought-stopping helps you stop a negative thought to help eliminate stress.
-Disproving irrational thoughts helps you to avoid exaggerating the negative thought, anticipating the worst, and interpreting an event incorrectly.
-Problem solving helps you identify all aspects of a stressful event and find ways to deal with it.
-Changing your communication style helps you communicate in a way that makes your views known without making others feel put down, hostile, or intimidated. This reduces the stress that comes from poor communication. Use the assertiveness ladder to improve your communication style.

Even writers like me can get stressed even though we’re just using our hands to do the talking, but having to sit for 7 or 8 hours is already stressful enough and have our own way to relieve stress. Whether you’re the mail guy, the CEO, or probably the average working parent, stress is one unwanted visitor you would love to boot out of your homes, especially your life.

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Webarticlesite is a resource site for those looking for personal development advice or need life coaching. Visit us or check out our personal development articles.
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Article Source: http://www.thewahmshack.com/articledirectory
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by S McIntyre

First and foremost anything you write, draw, paint and photograph is protected by copyright laws and it is known as intellectual property.

I think one time or another each of us have had something stolen from us. I, for one know I have had ad copies, blog post, contest ideas and even a portion of my home page’s content stolen from me. Certainly it’s not a good feeling and it’s not a considered a compliment or flattery in any way, shape or form! It’s pathetic and downright wrong on so many levels.

Do they think they can get away with it? Do they think it’s okay? Just because it’s on the Internet it doesn’t mean it’s a free-for-all. To understand copyright laws, visit http://www.copyright.gov/

What can you do when you find your content taken without your permission?

When they steal an ad copy, ask them to remove it. Report it to the website administrator where you found your stolen work. Most administrators will not tolerate this kind of behavior.

When they steal an article, let them know you are the original author and ask them to credit the work with your resource box or have them remove the plagiarized work immediately.

When they steal your website content, notify them via email with a cease and desist order. You can Google for a sample of a cease and desist order letter. If they fail to respond or fail to remove the copied content within the time frame you presented, contact their web hosting company and let them know of the situation. You can also contact their advertisers and let them know their ads are shown on a site containing copied/stolen content. If all fails, it’s time to report the offending site to Google and other search engines.

To prove you are the owner of the stolen work start searching through Google and screen capture the results from a cached file. You can use screen capturing software or use the “Print Screen” key on your keyboard and then copy it to Paint.

Let it be known, people who resort to these tactics really don’t belong online. Their lack of credibility and integrity will not get them far and they will fail.

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S McIntyre owns Work At Home Space, a free work at home resource focusing on telecommuting companies, daily telecommute job leads, articles, business resources and other work at home related topics. You can also visit her blog Healthy Perspectives, featuring an array of health topics, nutrition, reicpes and fitness for maintaining an overall healthy and well-balanced lifestyle.
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Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com

The new Captive Mommies Forum is here! After lots of design issues and hair loss the new forum is finally ready. If you are a Captive Mommy please join us for fun, family chat and business talk! The forum is open to any and all moms. It is also closed to the public so all posts and information are only viewable by fellow Captive Mommies. So why the move? Our former forum was hosted outside our site and I really wanted to have one that we could add fun things to and have it at an easier location. http://captivemommies.com/forum couldn’t be much easier

Once things get moving we will have advertising opportunities with a sponsor for each forum. We will also be having games (prizes tbd) and of course lots of chatting about everything under the sun. So please join us and make some new friends. Here’s the link again if you need it.

by Kim Christopherson

Phew. I just got breakfast on the table for my preschooler and I can sit down at the computer for a minute. I can finally check my morning email. “Mom!” I run over to the kitchen. Cherrios are all over the floor and now I hear the baby waking up. Little does the customer know on the other end of the computer that this email will have to wait for an unforeseen amount of time today. Oh, the life of the work-at-home mom! Can you relate?

Since being in business for myself, I’ve really had to step back on more than one occasion and re-evaluate where my priorities were. How could I put my family first, yet continue my dreams of building my business? Well, I think I’ve come up with a few answers that have worked well for me.

1.Sacrifice Means Giving More
Because I know that once my children start their day, my day revs up to speed mode the second they wake up. That leaves me virtually no time to work on business. And I’ve learned that in my situation, that’s OK! Isn’t that why I chose to be home in the first place? So sometimes that means I have to sacrifice some of my time early in the mornings before the rest of my family wakes up. I can guarantee that if I wake up 2-3 hours before the rest of the alarms go off in the house, those hours will be filled with real, solid work. It’s a great way to start my morning, knowing that I was able to answer important emails, make new contacts, write ads, and do other important work that needs to be done. Sacrificing a little sleep means I’m giving more to myself and my family.

2.Turn Off the Computer
When my children are home, I’ve learned that I must turn off the computer. They need to know through my actions that I am there to talk about their day, help with homework, or get them to where they need to go. I find that when the computer is completely off, then I am not tempted to work on it and get involved with business when I have a million more things going on right in front of me. This has not always been an easy thing to do, but my concentrated effort in this has been worth it.

3.Set Office Hours for Yourself
If you can set some hours for yourself to spend on work, then you can try to forget about it during other hours of the day. Those office hours may include early mornings, time while children are in school or napping, and later in the evenings. If it is important for hours to be during the day, you may want to consider hiring a sitter for those times, or try trading babysitting with a friend or neighbor. It’s amazing how much you can really accomplish with your workload when you are given a “chunk” of time all at once to completely immerse yourself in your work… without the guilt!

4.Find Support
There are so many online services where women who work from home can network with others in their niche, as well as offer support and encouragement. Take the opportunity to find these sites which will help you grow your business, balance your commitments, and love what you do! Joining and participating in forums, reading articles, and learning all that you can in each of these areas, will help you be the best mom and business woman you can be.

5.Let Your Children See You Soar!
I think it is so important for your children to see mom work hard at obtaining her goals and following her passions. You are setting a fine example to them of hard work and dedication. You are also showing them that they are #1 in your life by the way you prioritize and schedule your work-at-home day. You’re going to have your good days and your bad days. Everyone’s situation is different, so you must do what works best for you and your family. In the end, you will know what you really want out of life and how to get there. Remember, you don’t need to give up your dreams; they just continue to get bigger and better as you balance all the wonderful things in your life!
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Kim Christopherson is the owner and creator of YouCanMakeThis.com . Find hundreds of downloadable patterns and “how-to” eBooks for your home and family. Sign up for the YCMT newsletter and receive a $75 eBook bundle package for FREE!
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Article Source: http://www.wahm-articles.com