Parenting Win of the Week: Slow Your Roll
Achieve all of your goals this year, but on your own terms.
Twiiter: @kate_depalma
There’s a tweet going around from @kate_depalma, a picture-book editor, that says, "I am pleased to announce that I am no longer behind on everything. I didn’t catch up. I just decided that where I am just isn’t behind."
I don’t know Kate, but I have seen her tweet all across social media sharing her sentiment and I have to say I really started to think about what she said.
With the way our winter break worked this year, my kids were off from school since December 23, and they didn’t return to school until January 10. YES, JANUARY 10.
Now, if you are anything like me, the first week in January is where you set goals and strategize for the year. For me that means hitting the ground running with a fresh notebook and lofty goals.
Except this year, I was balancing being "break" mom, had a kid home with strep, and in the midst of trying to work, I was tasked with trying to figure out how everyone’s winter activities were going to fit into our already packed schedule.
Needless to say, I was overwhelmed.
I was talking to a friend who had some similar issues a few months before with no childcare help and she said what if you just waited a month or so to launch all of your New Year goals...does it really matter?
And the truth is, it doesn’t really matter. I took a moment to talk with my oldest about the fact that we may need to take a week to catch up to his new schedule, which might mean missing a practice or two. I took the time on Sunday to meal prep and make sure that during the week I don’t have to scramble to make dinner between driving places, and I made a conscious decision to — for the moment — just finish the work I have and do it well, until I feel the bandwidth for that trip to a coffee shop to set new goals.
Part of that is being really conscious about how I spend my time and I think that a goal of mine is to slow down and be more present with my kids, my family, and my good friends. Time is so limited and I think it is easier to get stressed when everything feels like a rush and a never-ending to-do list.
Now, that’s not to say I am not going to be realistic. Things will get busy in my house and when that happens, someone doesn’t sleep through the night or comes down with some bug or whatever and the whole plan gets derailed. But for now, my parenting win, perhaps, is taking a beat, slowing my roll, and realizing that I am no longer behind on everything...this is where I am meant to be.
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