Last year was not the best Mother’s Day (even though it was my first) as I was sleep deprived and the babies were still such a lot of work.
I know nobody talks about the hard times but hey, that’s what you come here for, right? Honesty 🙂
Anyway, so this year I was determined to have a much better day.
I did a couple of things that worked really well and when I was reflecting on them, I thought this might resonate with a couple of you too, so here goes:
I made my expectations clear and didn’t expect my husband to read my mind
He asked what I wanted and I told him “small and practical gifts, one from you and one from the babies, plus some me time”
I gave myself permission to take the me time
I realised after I asked for the “me time” that nobody had ever prevented me from taking it.
Least of all him.
It’s me who runs around cleaning the house and doing, doing, doing when I could easily stop and take a rest while the babies nap.
It’s cold in Jhb now and last week I realised that I needed some more long-sleeved t-shirts as I was still wearing 3 from when I was pregnant in the early stages, and another 2 from when I was huge.
Not a good look!
So off I went on Saturday morning for a solo shopping trip. One hour, R550 later and I was recharged.
On Sunday morning after we fed the kids, I jumped back into bed and had my breakfast. I chose to read for about 45 minutes.
Late afternoon when they were having their 2nd nap, I had another read.
It was heavenly.
But I realised that I need to give myself permission more often to do “nothing”. To relax.
How about you?
Are you also go, go, go? Do you need to give yourself permission to relax too?
So so true, I’m the same. I guess it’s another face of perfectionism, right? It’s usually a sign that things are going well when I don’t double think about taking some me time and doing nothing, if things are out of control I have this nagging little voice that don’t let me have quiet time!
Indeed I do the go go go thing. It has gotten so bad that I feel too bad to sit still and read a book. I’m really battling with this at the moment. I don’t even rest when I am sick which is absolutely not a good thing. And yet, my husband is the complete opposite of me when it comes to this. He has no qualms taking time out to relax if he feels like it or sleeping and resting off whatever ailment he has when he is sick. I envy that.
Julia, men are great at taking time for themselves. We can learn from them.
Chloe, it is absolutely another face of perfectionism and we need to stop it in its tracks 🙂
I’m a mom of two (5 & 8 years old girls), i totally agree with what you wrote. It’s not easy with young twins and it’s not easy even when they are older. Finding time to relax and have some “peace” at least when we are home it’s a must. If we (as mom’s ) are not recharged we can not transmit positive energies to our kids or to our family as they deserve.
A smile came to my face when I was writing ‘recharged’ and ‘transmit’?!
What do you think?