Holy smokes this has been a long winter. Here, just outside of Toronto, it feels like we are crawling to the finish. Our family foolishly made the mistake of not planning a warm weather getaway this winter and oh boy, are we cooped up.
For me, as the typically happy-go-lucky, problem-solving wife and mother, it’s been hard as I am constantly trying to keep everyone else happy, while here I am, struggling myself.
The long, sunless days, the yo-yo in temperatures and the fact that it is either too cold, or too muddy to let our kids run free in our backyard is keeping us indoors and miserable.
These past couple weeks have been particularly hard, mostly because someone has always been sick. Although being sick isn’t fun for the actual patient, for the mom/wife it is another layer of managing misery.
So, over the last couple of days I have made some changes to help me keep my head above water so I can continue to be that happy-go-lucky, problem-solving member of our family.
1. I’ve gone back to grabbing some rests midday. This one is still not happening often enough, but I am moving towards creating protected time for this. I am realizing that stopping after lunch for up to an hour and laying down, watching T.V. or reading does so much more for my mind than I ever realized. It’s the absence of worrying, to-do lists, cleaning, working and cooking that my mind sometimes needs the most. My mind craves being put on autopilot and get a well deserved break.
2. I am changing up my day last minute. Working at my computer, whether it’s blogging, or editing a vlog (while my kids are at school and my twins are in part-time daycare) is my passion and my therapy. But every once and a while, I am realizing that switching things up and moving my work to the evening so I can go out into the world, soak up the daylight and be around people is good for my soul and my sanity. In fact, right after I hit publish on this post, I am going to head out the door and enjoy this rare sunshine outside.
3. I’ve moved my workouts back to the morning. I really find carving out time to workout changes depending on the season. All winter working out in the evening really fit. Maybe because it was dark out so early and everyone would tend to go to bed earlier. But these last couple of weeks our big kids have needed more time from me in the evenings, and instead of enjoying that special time, I was getting frustrated because I was missing my workout. So, I am switching things up and working out at 6:00 A.M. so that for the rest of the day I can chill out and stop worrying about fitting that workout it.
4. We bought a houseplant. Yup, that’s right, I finally feel like I can keep something else alive, other than our kids. It is actually amazing what bringing some greenery inside has done to my mood. In fact, I am now hooked and can tell there are many more plants in our future.
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We are a family that thrives on and craves routine. My kids and I need some kind of structure to our day and without it we start getting irritable and anxious. Mike (and maybe Beau) on the other hand do pretty well being on vacation.
Sometimes I can have a really hard time breaking routine and just enjoying a vacation. At the beginning of our staycation I must confess that I am finding it difficult putting aside my constantly running to-do lists that are in my head and just have fun.
