I need alone time like I need air to breathe. Like I need food in my belly, or blood in my veins, I need time to be by myself. I think everyone feels this to some degree; I imagine I feel it so strongly because I was an only child. I grew up alone so that's my "normal".
As a wife and mom it can be next to impossible to have alone time. Somebody is always clamoring for my attention, night and day. And being in the throes of potty training...well....I have to be observed every time I use the bathroom now too. Pooping for an audience is not something I ever thought I'd be doing, but there you have it.
I try to sneak in little me moments throughout the day. Maybe I hop online to check Twitter or Facebook while the kids eat lunch. Maybe I play a quick game of Rush Hour on the iPod while the kids are playing nearby. If it's a really good day I'm able to get both kids to nap at the same time and I have a nice chunk of alone time.
As much as I long for an entire day alone, it's probably not going to happen any time soon. So I have to grab my time when I can get it. Most often that's at the end of the day when everyone is tucked in bed and the house has finally quieted down. I sit on the couch, have my Skinny Cow Ice Cream bar that I don't have to share, and put my feet up. Even if I only spend ten minutes chilling out before I head to bed, it's ten minutes alone. Ten minutes of relaxation. Ten minutes to take a deep breath and just be.
Is ten minutes enough? Not in the grand scheme of things. But ten minutes here and there throughout the day keep me going. My husband can tell the minute he walks in the door at night if I've been able to carve out those ten minutes for myself, believe me.
Are you able to find ten minutes a day for yourself? How do you spend those precious minutes of solitude?
Sprint has just launched Gaming on the Now Network™, bringing you the first wireless 4G network from a national carrier. Sprint and JuiceBoxJungle have sponsored me to write about what "ten minutes" a day means to me.
Wednesday, June 23, 2010
Claiming My Ten Minutes for the Sake of Sanity
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6 espresso shots:
I had an eye doctor's visit this morning, alone, and I was positively giddy. For me? Getting 10 minutes usually involves snacks and tv for the kids and hiding in earshot for me.
You have to do what you can.
My favorite semi regular outing? The grocery store. *sigh*
I sound kind of pathetic now that I read that. Heh.
I happen to have quite a bit of free time now...but when I didn't, my time alone was in the car driving the 1 hour and 20 minutes to school each way. I can sing as loud as I want or talk to myself with no one to look at me funny. I can have a conversation with a friend on the phone. I can meditate on problems that I'm facing and piece together solutions without interruption. I often find that my car is the only place that I really do my thinking. Well, there, and the shower. :-)
I rarely get 10 minutes alone. The only time I can get it is if I wake up at 5, but then I'm dragging the rest of the day!
oh, yes, I need it too. It's especially a shock this week, the first real week of school vacation where I don't have any alone time. My husband can tell, too...generally I don't want to talk to ANYONE at the end of the day if I haven't had any quiet time.
It's essential, I think, to carve out those quiet moments when we can.
I never get 10 minutes alone either. If the kids and the Hubs are in bed, that's when the cats come out and want to be on me all the time. It's exhausting.
I had a sitter yesterday so I could run errands and pee in a cup without little hands grabbing for it and while that was alone time I felt really done by the end of the day. I haven't had time really alone or with friends in a long while and it's beginning to show. H couldn't help but ask why the heck I was so irritable last night. 7 mos pregnant, with a cold and two kids without a Dad for a whole week? I have no idea why I'm irritable. Heh.
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