The 30 Second Hug

I can get overwhelmed very easily. Getting the kids ready for school, trying to plan kid activities for the morning, making dinner with everyone around me screaming, putting kids to bed, thinking about the next day. It can be a lot and when Andre is home with me during these times I can sometimes take that stress out on him.

So a couple of months ago we started 30 second hugs. I don't always drop what I am doing at the moment for the hug (that would easily stress me out more) but when I am at a natural stopping point while noodles are boiling or I'm prepping lunches, I walk over to Andre and go in for a hug. Once I'm there I begin counting to 30 in my head. And as I continue counting, I lean in a little more and I can feel some of the stress release. It doesn't take all the stress away, but even 50% of the stress leaving my body is incredibly helpful and allows me to get through whatever I'm struggling with a lot easier. And, not only will I feel better, but since one of Andre's love languages is physical touch, we both end up benefiting from the hug.

The thing I've learned since starting this is that I absolutely have 30 seconds to give myself a break and my husband an extra expression of love. So when you don't have time to get yourself 20 minutes of alone time (although sometimes that is 100% necessary!) or don't want to spend the next 10 minutes super frustrated/feeling guilty for feeling frustrated just take 30 seconds. That's sometimes all it takes.

And just in case I needed more reason to keep this up, here is what shows up when you ask Google how many hugs you need a day: