Four months ago, I experienced quite possibly one of the largest changes in motherhood as I sent all my kids out the door to school for the first time.
The question I kept getting from everyone was: What will you do with all your extra time? It was a valid question. I appeared to be gaining an extra 5 hours in my day of uninterrupted time – what would I do with it? Years ago, when people asked what I planned to do when all my kids went to school, I always just assumed I’d pick up more graphic design clients and do some more projects on the house. But the reality is I didn’t do either of those things.
Instead, I made a shift. I used to spend my evening hours working late into the night, while my kids were sleeping. But the funny thing about kids is the older they get, the later they stay up and I found myself not being able to complete work projects at night anymore. So I shifted my working hours to the daytime while they were in school. (Although I still stay up far later than I should – most of it is for fun.) This shift was important and came at a critical time in my kids’ lives as they were needing me at night. They needed help with homework. They needed a carpool driver. They needed someone to just listen to them. They needed me. And I was happy to make the shift.
So my daytime consists of connecting with Steve (he works from home too), working, a few projects, managing a home and serving in different capacities. My evenings are centered on kids and their activities and their needs. I call it the great shift of 2021.
Even months in, I’m still making adjustments, trying to find the best balance for all I’m trying to accomplish – and life is hard to keep up with sometimes!
Just today, I recognized a paradigm I needed to shift. For so many years, my daytime schedule revolved around preschool (8:30-11am) and Nap time (1-3pm). Which meant, I would get errands done with a child on my hip while one was at preschool and once they were home from preschool, we were home for the afternoon; having lunch and going down for naps until kids got home from school.
This morning, I started working and by 11, I was in a good place and thought I should run to Sam’s Club to stock up on food. I looked at the clock and saw it was just after 11 and my first thought was that I had run out of time for the day and I would go tomorrow. I still have it engrained in my head that by 11, I need to be home – which is crazy since my kids don’t get home until 3! I’m working to shift those thoughts but I can’t count how many times I’ve told myself it’s too late to go run an errand. An errand that at most would take an hour. Clearly, I’ve still got some work to do in my great shift!
But I love where I’m at.
