With the ever increasing pressures of modern day life – work, kids, spouse, running a household etc etc, the priorities that compel us all are probably stronger than ever I would argue. I’m finding that as time goes by, I am cramming more and more into each and every single day. And I have to say, that with a baby, it is becoming more and more challenging.
I’m finding myself working more evenings and cramming more into Saturdays when my older son is otherwise occupied and my younger son can spend more time with his Dad. Now we can have opinions over whether or not I’m overdoing it and not spending enough quality time with my kids and partner, but I feel bloody well pressured to get everything done and get it done properly!
Sometimes I feel the world on my shoulders juggling everyone’s varying demands of me. So just recently I made a decision, that every once in a while, I would take a day off. And just in the last fortnight I have found myself doing it twice! Last week while my older son was on camp, I drove my baby son to a town just over an hour’s drive away and we just spent the day together. Obviously, with a baby you can’t do a heck of a lot. But we walked, we dined, we talked to people – we just spent quality time together. And it made such a difference to us both I think.
Living in country Victoria, I also make the effort to go down to Melbourne once a week and again I cram a lot into a day. Chiropractor. Tennis training. Toastmasters. Meet Up Groups. Business meetings. And I had generally been viewing those days as purely work days. However, I have changed my perspective and now view them as my weekly day off. Change of scenery. No kids. Day in the city. Out of the house. It is rather refreshing I must admit. I’ve been trying to take a Retreat once a quarter and I must admit, I haven’t done it. Having a baby and moving house kind of hemmed me there. But I anticipate getting back into that groove and have booked for late May to do precisely that. However, in the meantime, I have made the decision to just take more days off. Doesn’t have to be structured or scheduled. Just when I can.
Yesterday was a particularly stressful day, so about half way through I chose not to look at Facebook, my computer or my phone anymore and took the rest of the day off. I had no appointments and decided that nothing was that important that it couldn’t wait for today. And boy did I wake up feeling so much more relaxed and refreshed this morning. I really think we can burn ourselves out, exhaust ourselves, stress ourselves out pretty easily these days with everything we all have going on (I mean there were two people I’ve spoken to the in the last couple of days where we quite literally could not get our calendars to sync for another 3 months!) Our schedules are just crazy busy these days I’m sure everyone would agree. And we can lose ourselves inside of the madness.
Taking a regular day off here and there doesn’t only reinvigorate ourselves, but our relationships, our businesses, our stress levels, refreshes our ideas and perspectives, making us better parents, better spouses, better providers and contributors. Consider it. Some quiet time can make a massive difference – even if you can only manage it once a month.