Spring break came up on me real quick this year. I only work 3 days a week, but because I choose to work an hour away, I am on the road at 4:45 am, and if I work my full 12 hour shift, I don’t get home until close to 8 pm, depending on traffic—which I’m ok with because I only work 3 days. The thing is that typically on the days I work, I don’t really have time for anything else because I‘ll make sure the kids have done their homework and help them if needed and then get them to bed. My husband is amazing at splitting the load with me because the sooner we get the kids to bed, the sooner we can decompress and have some drinks or watch a show together.
On my days off, I obviously have mom duties taking the kids to school/activities and picking them up plus running after our toddler, but I also like to make it a point to have some type of me-“ish”-time. Whether it be a walk with a friend or meeting friends for lunch, it’s important for me to give the part of me that existed before kids and a husband some TLC. I have amazing friends who I can laugh with and have meaningful conversations with. I have a lot of gratitude towards them because a lot of the times, I’ll have a kid, or two, or four with me in tow, and they are so patient and fine with it. Hence why I say me-”ish”-time, I may have my kids with me, but friend time at least fills my tank and grounds me to remember that there is more to life than work and all the small things I gravitate towards sweating over.
I will say though that there is a line to everything because if I need just me-time without the kids, I’ll give myself the grace to not feel guilty about it. My friend Rose says that when you’re a happy mom, the kids see it, and they’re happier. Over the past few years, I’ve started trying to live that, and it’s definitely helped. I mean I’m not going to sit here and say I’m perfect at it and it just happens automatically, but when I find myself stressing or feeling overwhelmed, I like to switch gears and work towards a solution rather than focusing on the problems. I just feel that when you focus on problems, your energy begins and ends there.
So, what’s the solution? If you’re a mom, and you feel like life is going and you’re on autopilot or struggling, give yourself the grace to say “eff it“ and take a moment or two or whatever you can afford to do with your time and/or money and do you boo. Heck, I don’t even consider that just mom advice. If you’ve ever said ”I want to do fun things but I have this or that going on” and you have feelings of being overwhelmed or stressed, consider giving yourself the grace to not always grind. Honestly I could probably go into this type of stuff more, but I have lots of thoughts on energy, mindfulness and gratitude so, I’ll break all that up into different posts.
Ok, so back to spring break. I literally go, go, go everyday filling my time in between work and tasks, to have fun and have “me” time or quality time with the family, that I literally just booked a campsite for one night, and said “eff it”, we’ll figure it out as we go along. At the beginning of spring break, we booked Great Wolf Lodge the day before we went and decided on the fly to extend our camping trip another night. We’re only half way through spring break….what will we do? To be continued. Plus, coming this week are blog posts on whether Great Wolf Lodge is worth it, and tips for any San Diegan families going to Petco Park to cheer on the Padres this season. ❤️
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