Family/Motherhood/Military Life

How This Over-busy Mom Made Time for Herself

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Rush, rush. Hurry, hurry.

As a busy mom of 2 kids, I used to feel we were constantly running from one place to another with hardly a moment to catch our breath in between.

I felt, if we weren’t heading home FROM something, we were heading out the door TO something.

I found myself asking, “why do I feel so busy?”

I decided, for the benefit of my family, I needed to make some changes. I started out by eliminating A LOT of our extra responsibilities and obligations. I wanted more time with my kids and some much-needed time for myself. We needed to put family as #1.

In an effort to accomplish this, I’ve had to learn to say “no” more often-even when I don’t want to. It can be hard sometimes. I see my friends going on exciting hikes I know I would enjoy. There are SO MANY fun activities for the kids to do on the island too. Not to mention all of the beaches and other activities I would like for us to experience while we live in Hawaii.

I used to feel guilty and selfish for saying “no.” But, I’ve had to change my perspective on it as I’m not saying “no” but, rather I’m saying “yes” to family time. Family time which is my biggest priority in this season of my life.

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We’ve got it down to just two busy days a week-basketball nights. Luckily, the kids have practice on the same nights and it’s back to back. The other nights, we can spend at home together.

Now that we have more time at home, I’m trying to do better about letting myself “relax.” I have a tendency to want to be cleaning something. The messy closet or the drawer that needs organized is annoyingly always in the back of my mind. I’m learning to just “let it be” and just enjoy being at home. I need to remind myself I don’t need to be constantly busy…it’s okay to sit and read a book while the kids play together.

I need to release myself from the “mom guilt” that my kids aren’t in several activities. In fact, I am actually proud of my decision to make “home time” more of a priority. My kids have time to use their imaginations and play together and I actually am finding that I have more time to myself this way!

I’m also finding, since we are having more “free time,” we are having more of a desire to spend time together. Our need for personal time is being satisfied so we are craving time together more now. Before, we were surrounded by other people and busy with activities. When we got home, we wanted our own space to do our own thing. We have time for our sit down family meals together and still do our weekly game night and movie nights.You can read about those here: Benefits of Family Game Night.

As we made this family change, we also eliminated cable from our house. It’s been almost 3 months now and we don’t miss it at all. You can read about that process here: How I Cut Cable and Internet…and Lived to Tell About It. 

When we want to watch TV, we log into Netflix using my cell-phone hotspot and we choose a show to watch. No wasted time TV surfing or worrying about DVR’ing certain shows. I find we are more choosy about what we watch this way and we tend to watch way less tv. This opens up more time for other things…like…PLAYING! It’s been great.

I feel I am more patient with the kids. I’m willing to give them more of my time because I feel I am getting more time for ME to do ME things.

I don’t have to guard my time so tightly anymore. It’s a calming feeling to reach this point! I wish I had found this earlier in life. But, I’ll take it now for sure!

Overall, I am so happy with the changes we have made.

As you know, I’m still a VERY busy momma with several hiking trips a week, spin class, DIY projects, baking, time with God…I’m just happy and blessed I have found a system that is working SO WELL for us. It may not be everyone’s choice. But, it’s proven to work so well for us in this season.

I can feel my family growing closer which makes my heart SO HAPPY!

Friends, I encourage you to take a look at your own family schedule.

Do you feel you are overdoing it?

What things could you eliminate which would prevent you from feeling over-busy?

It doesn’t have to be big things. Start with something simple. I’m sure, once you see the positive impact it can have on your family, you will feel a sense of relief!

If you are wanting to find some ways to spend more time together as part of your change, here are some suggestions: 10 Ways to Sneak in More Family Time

How do YOU make more time for your family? What things have you eliminated to do so?

How An OVer-busy mom found time for herself-2

With Aloha,

Lacy

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Featured Blog Posts:

Benefits of Family Game Night

How I Cut Cable and Internet…and Lived to Tell About It

10 Ways to Sneak in More Family Time

Published by adventuresofabusymomcom

I am a military wife, a mother, a hiker, a dog lover, a refurbisher, a reader, a drawer, a baker...whatever I can do to enjoy life is what you will catch me doing!

14 thoughts on “How This Over-busy Mom Made Time for Herself”

  1. This was a beautiful post. I’ve always said that family is everything. So spending more time with family should be key for good bonding. And this means intentionally cutting down on other extra activities that infringe on one’s time, to enable more space for family. You did well and I’m glad you are enjoying the process. Great share! ❤

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  2. Amen, amen, amen! A much needed nugget of wisdom for many modern families. And one my wife and I also had to learn when our children were young.

    In fact, I’m still learning it…

    As a preview for a soon to come post, I recently had to start a second job and therefore had to make the decision to cut back on my blogging time. Whereas I used to have a goal of posting once or twice a week, my new goal is now only once a month. It was a hard decision, but one I had to make if I wanted to keep my sanity! 🙂 Hopefully in a year or so I can cut it back to part-time and start blogging a little more frequently again.

    Keep up the great work, both as a blogger, and as a mom!

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    1. Thank you, James! Good luck in your new job! What will you be doing? I’ll be excited to see how this is reflected into your blogging. I think we could all use the perspective of a Christian man in the workplace. You can use this as such a great opportunity to be Gods hands and feet!

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      1. A little bit of this, a little bit of that. I’ll be doing a little bit of work the computer data, a little bit of work with computer programming, and a lot of working extra hours in the warehouse. I’m hoping I can cut the second job down to part-time within the next year, but we’ll see.

        And thanks for the positivity! It helped me get my eyes off the extra hours, and back onto the bigger picture. You are a blessing!

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  5. I relate to this on so many levels. Thank you, for sharing your insight. I often spend so much time doing for others that I do not take hardly anytime for myself. Especially, now a days with have a sweet 10 month old bundle of joy. I find myself overwhelmed and frazzled by the end of most days. Although, as you said being on a schedule helps tremendously. Even cutting out certain things that tend to take away from your over all well being.
    Thank you, you have defintiely reach me and given me much needed inspiration towards my own life.

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