A Guide For Homeschool Moms: Finding "Me" Time

They say a mom’s work is never done…I don’t know about you, but it sure feels right for this busy homeschooling mom. A hectic work schedule, combined with trying to balance other areas of your life, may lead to you feeling like you are spinning too many plates in the air at once.

With kids, family, work, chores, and the many responsibilities that we have to fulfill, there never seems to be enough time to let alone think about, never mind fulfill our own needs or desires.

This can lead to depression, anxiety, or just a general feeling that you are worn out. Besides how it affects us personally, being worn out also means that your performance and attentiveness to all you have to do will suffer. Irritation becomes common, as we feel overwhelmed and unable to deal with the stressors of the day.

Everyone is different, and each individual has different ideas about how to find time to for ‘me.’ Here are a few tips for finding space and time in your life.

Make A Date With Yourself (And Keep It!)

Once a week, take time to do the things you like to do alone. To do this you need to learn to say no to the people in your life, or learn to delegate your duties to someone else (mainly talking childcare here.) This will enable you to have some time to relax….you just have to remember to actually do so!

Go and grab a drink somewhere, get some exercise, or even just disappear to another part of the house. My favorite disappearing act involves a bubble bath, a mug of hot tea, and a good book! Anything you can think of to do that would enable you to free up space in that busy head of yours.

Try setting a goal for your New Year’s Resolutions…set an appointment with yourself, and try not to reschedule it!

Treat Yourself

This can simply be an extension of the previous where you make a date with yourself. Once a month, go treat yourself, this can be anything you wish, such as shopping, a massage or spa day, a movie, or even just spending time with your friends, catching up on their lives. This is totally your choice. If you’re an introvert, spend it alone. If you’re an extrovert, have a girls’ night!

Learn to Say No

This means setting boundaries and limiting what you will or are willing to do in a single day or week. This may mean having to say no to some things, but considering how much your wellness matters, it may be well worth it.

Our 2020 word of the year was SLOW…and boy, did we have no idea just how much we’d get to implement this! But you know, we learned a lot from slowing down. Slow living is about turning away from the materialistic and busy lifestyle and focusing more on quality than quantity. It is about awareness…the consciousness of our surroundings and what we are doing…appreciating all of the little things in life.

Be Organized

By planning your day and week, you can identify opportunities for ‘me’ time. Making lists and looking at your week would help you to see those times where gaps appear in your schedule. Organization can be the key to doing this. Some moms like to use a yearly planner, while others are more apt to fly by the seat of their pants. Which works best for you?

One of my favorite ways to plan ahead and free up time is by freezer cooking and using the crockpot. Having those dinners pre-made and knowing that my family has healthy food and I don’t have to spend hours each evening making it really frees up a lot of time!

The more you practice doing this the more you will learn where you can fit things in. I like to spend that not-cooking-dinner-from-scratch time going for a walk for 20 minutes. Try it! When you take that walk, take a look at the world around you. We live in beautiful world; whether it is a flower or a smile on a person’s face, it’s all there for us – you just need to see it.

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