Mother’s Day is coming up, which is a great time for all of the busy women and mothers out there to remember to take care of yourselves! In case you hadn’t noticed, household and family to-do lists are (or can be) endless, so the solution is not to wait to do something fun until all the chores are done. If you do, you’ll be waiting forever, and what fun is that?!
Two things busy women can do to make themselves happier are to delegate, delegate, delegate and use your calendar for ‘me time’ appointments. How do you do this? Figure out what you don’t have time to do this week, but really needs to get done. Is there someone else that can help out? Usually, the answer is yes, you just have to ask. Remember, family members are not mind readers, so you usually have to tell them what you need help with. If you don’t have someone to help with a particular task, consider whether it makes sense to outsource – pay someone to do it for you! We don’t have time to do it all, so this is a perfectly reasonable solution. Your choices here might be a neighborhood kid, a professional service, or an on-line task service.
As for using your calendar to schedule your ‘me time,’ it’s just that simple. First, figure out what you’d like to do – a ‘date’ with girlfriends, a craft project, an exercise class, read a book? Then figure out when and where it makes sense to fit this in. This is the hard part, but don’t give up. It will probably mean asking your spouse or a family member to help with the kids, or perhaps outsourcing some errands or housework. Whatever it takes, just do it. And don’t forget to put it on your calendar – and your spouse’s calendar too! You will be a happier mom for it! As your ‘me time’ approaches, ward off mom guilt by taking a few seconds to start mentally listing all the things you do for your family – you will get over that really quickly!
