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Give Yourself a Break






Living like we do is no cakewalk. It is hard, and requires a level of commitment that can be unsustainable. I've come to appreciate the benefit of taking a break and regrouping. It has been a while since my last post because frankly, the rigidity of my routine was wearing me down.

I created a place for everything but everything was not in its place. I was struggling to keep up with the household chores. Cooking, cleaning, care of children, and the like are tasks that were previously performed by my household help and I was finding life stateside to be rather difficult. Not being able to keep up and the resulting disorder in our home brought me to my wit's end. Of course, everyone in the home was feeding off my ill temper and it was making for a very bad situation.

I challenged myself with letting a few things go, with the condition that I needed to recharge and I would get back on track as soon a possible. I couldn't turn a blind eye to the toothpaste on the mirror, bagel crumbs on the kitchen floor, and the toys left out overnight, but taking a different approach helped. I sought to triage the household tasks; instead of abandoning my housekeeping standards completely, I did the most urgent chores first and put others off until I had the motivation.

Weekly meal prep is very labor intensive and we were getting tired of the meal options available from what was seasonal and/or available from Costco so I skipped the process for a few weeks. Our shopping lists included more lunchmeat, bread products, and prepared meals. We did splurge a little and ordered takeout more than usual. My husband took sandwiches or leftover takeout for lunch. This approach, though easier, is obviously not the healthiest or cheapest option.

These changes are not a viable long-term arrangement but a vacation from the daily grind was helpful. It gave me pause, and allowed me to reassess our routine.

I determined that I needed to focus on my time management. I needed to make changes to reduce my stress level at certain times of the day.

Mornings were especially hectic. I would go to the gym before the kids wake and be back moments before my husband was ready to leave for the office. We were always in a rush. By starting my day 20 minutes earlier than before, my husband and I can share some of the morning responsibilities, the kids enjoy an overlap of parents, and my husband and I enjoy a few minutes to chat.

The kids were acting up, fussy, and unwilling to cooperate at bath and dinnertime. By reducing the amount of time we would spend on the playground after school each day there is more time to unwind, at home, before starting the evening routine. The kids are in a much better mood and there are fewer confrontations.

Putting the kids to bed is still a challenge, as they don't stay there once we put them down. However, we are more tolerant of the seemingly endless requests for this, that, and the other thing, because the bath time and dinner routine are, for the most part, a little less trying.

And now, back to regular programming.

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