This past weekend I spent three full days assisting at a coaches training course in Boston. Each day was a 9-10 hour day, plus the forty mile drive back and forth to the event hotel at Logan Airport. Needless to say, I wasn’t around much on the home front.
As it happened, my husband was also going to Logan Airport on Sunday, flying out to a conference in California. We couldn’t quite time it so that I could give him a ride, but I waved at all the planes I saw taking off just in case one was his.
So now I’m back home, trying to get my life in order after three days of doing no laundry, grocery shopping or cleaning around the house. It would be easy for me to go to a place of overwhelm when I look at all that needs to happen in the next few days while I’m solo-parenting my way through the week.
Sometimes after being away for a few days, I feel like I end up paying for it when I get back.
It’s a struggle to sit here and write while I look at the pile of papers on my desk – a few days worth of mail, receipts to be organized and notes from my weekend training. I see emails popping into my inbox about responsibilities I have at church, and I’m trying to keep from jumping right to them as a priority.
My to-do list for my work responsibilities is equally long and overwhelming.
Household chores, work responsibilities, volunteer responsibilities – which of these am I going to make a priority? At the moment, I’m bouncing around from one to the next and it doesn’t feel like progress.
What if taking time for myself becomes a priority?
What would I choose to do?
I know the answer – get outside. Even though the sun is not shining, it’s a beautiful day.
This feels like a difficult choice that I might have to pay for later. Workshops aren’t going to get planned and emails aren’t going to get written while I’m out admiring the pea shoots and May flowers. But I can clean up some garden beds, and my mind can slowly till the ideas I have for an upcoming church service.
Getting my hands in the cool dirt and feeling the fresh air on my face will help me ground myself in the present and slow down the running tab of to-do lists in my head.
I also know that if I sit at my desk all day, I will not be at my best when the kids arrive home from school this afternoon, even if I’ve checked five or six things off of my list.
So, I’m choosing to nourish myself with time outside in the garden and perhaps even a walk in the woods.
The outcome is going to be a more level-headed and patient parent later in the day.
At least – here’s hoping!
What can you choose today that will nourish you?
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As it happened, my husband was also going to Logan Airport on Sunday, flying out to a conference in California. We couldn’t quite time it so that I could give him a ride, but I waved at all the planes I saw taking off just in case one was his.
So now I’m back home, trying to get my life in order after three days of doing no laundry, grocery shopping or cleaning around the house. It would be easy for me to go to a place of overwhelm when I look at all that needs to happen in the next few days while I’m solo-parenting my way through the week.
Sometimes after being away for a few days, I feel like I end up paying for it when I get back.
It’s a struggle to sit here and write while I look at the pile of papers on my desk – a few days worth of mail, receipts to be organized and notes from my weekend training. I see emails popping into my inbox about responsibilities I have at church, and I’m trying to keep from jumping right to them as a priority.
My to-do list for my work responsibilities is equally long and overwhelming.
Household chores, work responsibilities, volunteer responsibilities – which of these am I going to make a priority? At the moment, I’m bouncing around from one to the next and it doesn’t feel like progress.
What if taking time for myself becomes a priority?
What would I choose to do?
I know the answer – get outside. Even though the sun is not shining, it’s a beautiful day.
This feels like a difficult choice that I might have to pay for later. Workshops aren’t going to get planned and emails aren’t going to get written while I’m out admiring the pea shoots and May flowers. But I can clean up some garden beds, and my mind can slowly till the ideas I have for an upcoming church service.
Getting my hands in the cool dirt and feeling the fresh air on my face will help me ground myself in the present and slow down the running tab of to-do lists in my head.
I also know that if I sit at my desk all day, I will not be at my best when the kids arrive home from school this afternoon, even if I’ve checked five or six things off of my list.
So, I’m choosing to nourish myself with time outside in the garden and perhaps even a walk in the woods.
The outcome is going to be a more level-headed and patient parent later in the day.
At least – here’s hoping!
What can you choose today that will nourish you?
*** if you are interested in receiving my blog posts to your Inbox, please click the button below. ***
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