I grew up in Hawaii. I am an island girl. I used to live on "island time". I used to believe that wearing a watch would cage my free spirit. I dreamed of far off places, unique cultures and foreign lands that I longed to discover once I got off the rock.
Looking back, I believe my love of change, spontaneity and traveling prepared me for the life I now have. I am a Cosmopolitan Housewife. Home is everywhere. We travel a lot and that hasn't really stopped now even with young kids. I have had to learn to be even more flexible and more open with my time because trips and plans change at a moments notice. I have had to operate on a lack of routine.
I have had to get pretty creative in how I do things.
-Nursing on the top of a double decker bus in the rain and in a moving taxi.
-Pumping on a lake boat, the airplane washroom and in a storage closet.
-Putting my girls down to sleep in various hotel rooms, cabins, yerts, airplanes, strollers, tour buses and boats.
Looking back, I believe my love of change, spontaneity and traveling prepared me for the life I now have. I am a Cosmopolitan Housewife. Home is everywhere. We travel a lot and that hasn't really stopped now even with young kids. I have had to learn to be even more flexible and more open with my time because trips and plans change at a moments notice. I have had to operate on a lack of routine.
I have had to get pretty creative in how I do things.
-Nursing on the top of a double decker bus in the rain and in a moving taxi.
-Pumping on a lake boat, the airplane washroom and in a storage closet.
-Putting my girls down to sleep in various hotel rooms, cabins, yerts, airplanes, strollers, tour buses and boats.
With that being said, I never thought I'd be the type to ever be over organized or graph myself a schedule. However, here I am enjoying the process of creating a schedule and seeing the freedom and excitement a schedule can bring me! I have found with all the traveling, flexibility and lack of schedule I have had to have with our way of moving and living on this earth, that the free spirited Cosmopolitan Housewife in me actually needs to come back to a sense of routine or normalcy once I set foot at home again or I'll go crazy (like a "child not on a schedule" crazy).
I am a very passionate person. I love so many things. If I could I would be one of those Matrix agents that can download data into my brain on a million different topics. I wish I could soak my mind in so many things. Sometimes I can't make up my mind on what I want to be passionate about. When I became a mom, my heart and passion expanded for my kids, but my hunger to find time for me and my other passions just seemed to get stronger as well. I saw that I was losing a lot of "me" time. I desperately needed to find open spaces where I could play and feed my passionate spirit in the midst of the many daily tasks and overtime hours that the job title of motherhood requires.
How can I have intentional "me" times when the moment I get a break I am catching up on chores or wanting to take a long snooze on the couch? I realized that if I continued to not follow any format of a schedule, I would be losing time that could be life giving and intentional for me. Hence a SCHEDULE!
A well rested, well fed, loved and purpose filled mother can give her kids the best that she has.
If we as moms overwork ourselves and fill our beautiful moments of break times with non-life giving activities like : the never ending mundane task of dish washing, laundry and cleaning (mundane to me at least) we might go a little crazy and maybe act a little crazier towards our kids and our spouse. We need to love on ourselves and fill up our love tank so that we can love on others and give again. If we don't, we will be trying to run on empty.
Unless cleaning and house chores is what you love and it breathes life into you, by all means have at it, love on yourself that way girl! I wish I was more like you, but unfortunately I am not.
There have been dear friends of mine that have offered to come over and fold my clothes and wash my dishes, saying very convincingly, " I LOVE folding clothes!" and "I LOVE washing dishes! Let me help you!" And all I can say is bless their hearts and the tidy planet that they come from, because I have no urge in me to fold or wash anyone's laundry or dishes! I know, I sound like a terrible person, I'm just being honest. I don't even like doing my own laundry or dishes! You can join me in praying for me to have a more serving heart. Wait, take that back. I do serve and I do like to serve others, don't get me wrong, but I did not receive any passion from above to LOVE the act of folding clothes and washing dishes, I'm just saying! Maybe God can shape me in that area.
All day as moms of young ones we are giving, cleaning, driving, cooking, helping, feeding, correcting, teaching and playing with little people etc. And don't get me wrong these are all good things. We are loving on our kids by all of these acts. We are teaching them love by action. It's our divine calling from above.
But Mamas, how about for just one beautiful moment each day or just an ounce of space and stillness in our week, we give back to ourselves? Maybe it really is a rejuvenating nap? To read a chapter of a book? To be still before our Creator? A time to lift up all our cares and worries and pray as well as listen to God without any distraction? To create something: art? music? a story? To learn something new: A foreign language? a new recipe? a new exercise? learning to use that bow and arrow set you got last Christmas?!
These are things I need to be intentional about in my life. Even if they are just small moments of time. We have to remind ourselves that sometimes the greatest ideas are formed in a matter of minutes. Sometimes the power and energy to make it through your day is found in a 10 minute nap on the couch. Sometimes a moment of therapy in prayer and listening to God is all we need to get back on the right footing again.
So I bought a chalk board frame and some chalk pens and voila! My weekly schedule (it serves as my guideline, so there is still room for flexibility)
I began to look at my weekly responsibilities that never change and find times where I could be more intentional with my time for me and my time with my kids.
For example:
-When I nurse Ireland in the rocking chair before her naps, I can read a few pages or more of a good book. Instead of responding to the never ending chatter of social information on my phone, I can read something that is life giving for me.
-When I have meals with my kids, I can be intentional about playing music and light some candles to bring a nice mood to our family time. (I had to put little music notes and a pathetic drawing of candle to remind my foggy brain.)
-When Aria is home and Ireland is napping I can make that time all about devoting to playing with Aria and not let other things get in the way.
-When both of the girls are down for naps, I can make it about writing, songwriting, learning Spanish etc.
- And I do Laundry only on fridays in between my duties with the kids. I will refuse to do laundry everyday!
-Yes, I know that sleep time comes early, but it gets me rejuvenated to be the mom I want to be and have the energy to enjoy my breaks times the next day.
