Little Days
Posted by Arwen Mosher in Just me on Tuesday, May 12, 2009 8:37 PM
Today I got very little accomplished. Today, I am okay with that.
I have an ongoing mental list of things to get done around the house. On any given day, I’ve got a rough idea of the tasks that need to be accomplished that day, and I feel good if I’ve checked them all off by evening.
Since the master list of tasks is endless (I’m sure anyone out there who’s ever been in charge of running a household can relate to that!) I like the day-by-day approach. As long as I finish the things I’ve set down for myself in any particular day, I can feel successful even if there are seventy more things that I have to do tomorrow.
I cut myself some slack, as I’ve mentioned, in stressful times like after the birth of a new baby. But in all other times, I have those daily lists. It’s a good way to keep myself on track.
Except when it’s not. There are some days, some circumstances, in which having any chores at all feels incredibly overwhelming to me. This is what I’ve learned: that sometimes I just have to give myself a day off.
Of course there are no real days off in parenting, but I do what I think of as Bare Minimum Days, or Recovery Days. All I have to do is keep everyone alive, safe, fed, and relatively clean, and I can call the day a success.
On days like this I read a lot. I sit and enjoy several cups of tea. I let Camilla watch many VeggieTales clips on YouTube. I give myself permission not even to think about the pile of laundry on the basement floor.
The next day, I am rejuvenated and ready to dive into my task list again. Strangely, I think taking a day off actually makes me moreproductive overall.
I’m guessing that as our family grows and we have more outside-the-home commitments, it will become difficult to continue to have these kinds of restful days, so I’m treasuring them while I can.
Do you do recovery days?
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