A Brave Writer's Life in Brief

I know it’s tough to carve out time for you when you’ve got children who need lunch, rides, help and sleep. I have a few tricks up my sleeve for how to recharge even with kidlets at your feet. Let’s break these down into time allotments. So, for instance, if all you’ve got is 30 seconds, you can still take time for you.

30 Second Time Out

• Splash water on your face
• Steep a cup of tea
• Look out a window and SEE a bird (name it if you can)
• Put on lipstick
• Look in the mirror and smile at yourself
• Get a child to massage your shoulders
• Stretch your body (arms over head, up on tip toes; or, sideways bends in each direction, feet apart)

5 Minute Time Out

• Drink that cup of tea in one chair (don’t move – sit all the way through it)
• Clear one annoying surface (couch, coffee table, kitchen counter)
• Page through a new magazine (just page – you don’t have to read it)
• Send a text to a friend
• Put on make-up (quick version – mascara, blush, lip gloss) and earrings
• Prop up your feet and lean head back; close your eyes
• Take a brisk walk around your house (outside if possible)

15 Minute Break

• Turn on music you pick (iPod, radio, speakers for your iPod)
• Read poetry (get that book out and sit with a couple of poems)
• Close your eyes and lie on the couch (eye pillow is really great if you have one)
• Email someone
• Walk down the block (alone if possible, or with baby in sling or backpack – keep house in sight)
• Read one chapter of the book you want to read
• Make your bed and straighten your bedroom

30 Minute Break

• Combine some of the ideas above: tea with poetry and music, for instance
• Take a run, do yoga, stretch, go for a bike ride, take a long walk
• Focus on a project (for instance, put in 30 minutes toward playing piano or working on an art collage or planning a new kitchen)
• Study something YOU want to study (design, art history, growing herbs, theology, nutrition, quilting)
• Call a girlfriend
• Take a nap (set the timer)
• Take a shower

3 Hour Break

• Get out of the house (that means, this break is planned so childcare is handled)
• Go to a coffee shop, library or a natural setting like a park (rejuvenate)
• See a movie with a girlfriend (or alone)
• Eat out (choose some place tasty)
• Visit an art museum without your kids
• Go to a botanical garden
• See a play
• Write (if you write); Paint (if you paint); Craft (if you craft); Play music (if you play something)

If you can contrive a longer break, by all means take half a day or a full day. I used to take Monday nights (three hours) to go to the library. My husband would look after the kids (they were little!) and I’d reserve one of the library’s private conference rooms. I’d go in the room and either write (I was working on a book), write songs (I was learning guitar at the time and loved writing lyrics), pray (some weeks were like that) or cry (other weeks were like that). It was my time to use as I wished. I liked the library because no one could get to me, it was blissfully quiet and I would not be interrupted by anyone or anything.

Even tiny breaks are good. Put a flower in a vase, light a candle, eat one square of chocolate that you’ve hidden in your cupboard, straighten the photos on your refrigerator, brush your hair (feel the bristles on your scalp), make yourself smile, notice a reflection and see it…

Be in the moment for a moment today. It helps.

Tags: Moms

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