Overstimulation & anxiety induced anger and my 5 tips for working through the rage

I put up a question box on Instagram the other day asking for some Mom’s Musings topic requests and a lot were focused on the holiday season, the extra mental load a mom takes on during it all, setting boundaries, and prioritizing “me time” during the madness. Since I am currently typing this while sitting at my parent’s apartment before their holiday party and having a hard time, I figured this is the perfect intro to combine these all along with some ugly emotions I’m experiencing. Let me set the stage for you… we’ve had a long weekend of socializing (my best friend’s birthday party Friday night, which was a late night, and my brother-in-law’s birthday party last night) and it’s currently Sunday afternoon and I’m at my parents for their annual Christmas caroling party (one of my favorite holiday traditions). We decided to come up early today because we figured “why not give ourselves time to settle in, have the kid’s nap at their apartment, and not be rushed to get to the party”. Famous last words. Our second has recently decided that he is not willing or interested in napping anywhere but his own room or his carseat. So what have I been doing for the past hour (and Joe now for the second hour)? Trying to fight through his meltdown and get him to sleep (update: Joe just came in and said we are in fact just giving up with the idea of a nap today). I want to say something I only feel safe admitting to a few people…