When my in-laws came to visit this past summer, my mother-in-law was kind enough to bring along the magazines she’d already read so I could enjoy them. I usually read magazines in the bathtub as I soak my cares away. So, I stacked them beside the basket of clean towels. But, as my own magazine subscriptions were added to the pile it seemed that mountain was growing rather than shrinking.
The mountain wasn’t the problem. The fact that I never found time to read them was the problem. But, I discovered a solution.
My daughter, Lucy, has fallen in love with bath time. So, after getting her all scrubbed fresh and clean, I glanced longingly at the stack of reading material. Then, I glanced back at Lucy, and once again at the magazines. Hmmm, I thought. As long as I’m sitting here watching Lucy, I don’t really see what would be wrong with reading a magazine and paying attention to her at the same time. Multi-tasking is not optional for a mother.
I grabbed the first magazine on the stack and sat by the tub happily perusing as Lucy was “payin and finnin” (that is playing and swimming in Lucy talk). I tore out interesting pages I wanted to remember and added them to a waiting pile to be filed in my categorized binder of new and fun ideas.
Really, it’s worked out quite nicely for me. My mountain of magazines is decreasing and my organized binder of ideas is growing. And, Lucy gets a longer bath time. As far as I can tell, it’s a win/win for us both!
QUESTION: How do you creatively find ways to sneak in “me time”?
CHALLENGE: Find some time to do something for yourself this week and don’t feel guilty about it!
Image by Clare Bloomfield at www.freedigitalphotos.net.
Originally published on September 7, 2011.
