Me Time: A Necessity in Mommying
Ever feel like “mom” should be spelled “momm” so it becomes a four-letter word? Whether your a stay-at-home-mom, a work-at-home-mom or a work-in-the-office-mom, moms usually fall last on priority. It comes with the mom-job. Traditionally, we’re responsible for the everything at home. (I’m not saying dads aren’t responsible, but when’s the last time you heard a 10-year-old yell out “Daaaaad? I need my red baseball shirt! Where’s my red baseball shirt?!”)
While a lot is demanded of mom, she’s also usually forgotten when it comes to who she is because to those little ones living in her care she’s the MOM. She may also be a librarian, a doctor, a coach, a marketer or a technician, but to the family she’s the one who makes lunch and breakfast and drives the carpool and prepares snack for all eight kids that came to her home after school bus drop off (even when six of those kids are not own.) She’s the one who finds herself sitting next to her first grader helping him to focus on completing his homework. She’s the one folding laundry until midnight because until 11:00 pm she was still completing forms for a field trip, or a costume for Favorite Story Book Character Day.
And that mom? There’s a good chance that she’s running around doing so much for others that she forgets herself. And so does everyone else. She forgets the importance of “me time” and that without “me time” she just might forget who she is.
Me time is a necessity. It’s necessary to refresh, to think, and to enjoy yoursef, who you are and where you come from. Me time rejuvenates a mom. It brings back her energy, spirit and enthusiasm. Sadly, it’s usually the first thing to be brushed aside when there’s a busy schedule.
So, moms. What’s your favorite Me Time? If you had 30 minutes, two hours, an afternoon, or a day, what would you do with it? Think hard… Me Time should be a time that you refresh. A time that you remember who you are outside of the laundry and lunches. A time that you focus 100% (okay, I’d be happy with 75% if that’s all I can do) on you.
Me? I try to get my toes done about once a month. Some weekends, I just take a few hours to run errands alone. Other days I enjoy tea and a book. But what I’ve found to be the most rewarding Me Time is the three times a week that I climb on the elliptical machine with a good book, working out while leaving my daily responsibilities and getting lost in a book. Or I practice Pilates, stretching my body and letting my mind go.
Recently, I surveyed my followers on Facebook and Twitter asking: Moms, when’s the last time you had “me time”? What’s your favorite “me time” thing to do? Several of the responses included spa time and tea. Others listed books and magazines. But just under half asked “what is me time?” or sarcastically responded that they don’t recall the last time they did anything for them.
Ladies! It’s time to celebrate you. Get a sitter, call a friend and offer to watch her kids today if she can watch yours tomorrow. Go do what you want to do. Soon. Tomorrow. Today.
Or do something else.
Just do something for you.
Celebrate who you are.
Refresh.
Julie is the owner and editor of Julieverse.com, founded as Just-Precious.com, in May 2009 and VlogMom.com, a website and network focused on empowering bloggers to engage on video. A freelance writer, she writes an education column for Rusty & Rosy blog and specializes in parenting, education, organization and travel. She has written for Yahoo’s Shine! as a Parenting Guru columnist, the Playgroups to Preschool column at Scandinavian Baby’s blog, for Baby Center’s Momformation Blog as a recurrent guest writer and as a Senior Writer and Editor for Mommies with Style since 2005.