Manic: Umm…pretty much every day!
Managed: So you know what? I told the family last week that this coming weekend we were doing nothing! Nothing, Nada, not a thing! No schedules, no practices, no rehearsals, nothing at all…except to just be together. And you know what? It was lovely! I highly recommend it!
We are back to our crazy weeks and busy weekends now, but last weekend was so good for us that I decided that this would make a good post and here’s why…
Find a weekend to give yourself and your family the gift of time and watch what happens!
I once had a friend, who is a family counselor, tell me that she was seeing too many families who were overstressed simply because they were over-scheduled and exhausted. She told me that the biggest piece of advice that she could give busy families today is to schedule some time to get unbusy! She also tells families to pace themselves.
So I decided to try scheduling an empty weekend….funny how I used the word “schedule” to have a quiet weekend. We still did a few things like take care of our neighbor’s home while they were away and attend church. And boy was I glad that we had left our weekend open because we discovered that my brother-in-law was in town for a robotics competition that he coaches. So when we got word that he was here, because we had “scheduled” an open weekend, my family was free to go and see his team. So off hubby and our kids went and I stayed home and got caught up on some work…at least that was my plan.
As I started my work, I realized that I felt a bit sluggish. Wondering why, I stopped to reflect on what a busy week I had just completed. So I did some of my work, but then when my daughter returned, we plopped ourselves on the couch and watched two Lifetime movies right in a row! It was awesome! Awesome, I tell you! To have some time to have some free time was really nice!
So find a weekend and “schedule” an empty weekend because you will find it to be quite full, actually. Full of quality time together with your sweet family. You may discover that your teenager really does want to chat, since you aren’t rushing off to a scheduled event And your tween girl may surprise you with a pretend spa day that she has set up in your bedroom (yep that rocked last weekend when she did that…the foot rub and neck massage felt great).
And making blueberry pancakes together on Sunday morning and teaching my teenage son how to make homemade chicken fingers on Friday night with a little fondue dessert are just some of those experiences that you can’t really schedule until you find yourself relaxing at home during a “scheduled” empty weekend.
This week we are back to our busy schedule! We’ve had school projects to complete, a dance lesson for my girl, an orthodontist appointment, a freelance writing deadline for me plus I get to chaperone my daughter’s field trip this week.
And the next day gets even busier followed by a crazy weekend, too….just the way we like it. We like to keep busy and we are all grateful to be involved in activities that my kids enjoy, plus I’m really thankful to have some freelance work come my way.
OK, time to get off the computer now, so that I can fill in the family calendar with all of our scheduled activities this coming weekend. Back to the reality that I love, but I will remember to schedule an open weekend sometime again soon.
We had to get out of town to accomplish this – Flagstaff over spring break – and it was great! We had a movie night, took the dogs to the park and just hung out with very few electronics to distract us. Of course we almost got stuck in a snow storm, but that made for interesting family time as well!
I know…families do usually have to go out of town to accomplish that! So true! Thanks for sharing, Melissa and I’m so glad that your family got to do that. That time is precious since our kids grow up so fast!