If you are like me, you are a busy mama who goes, goes, goes until bedtime. Well the kid´s bedtime anyways, then you crash.
Let me paint a picture for you of a evening at the Pollard Tribe household. Brett gets home at 3:30, he gets cleaned up and we catch up over a cup of coffee. During this coffee time we have kids getting up from naps. Typically demanding Brett's attention and a snack. Somehow the time flies by and it is 5:15. Time to start dinner, eat dinner, baths, and bedtime routines. Book, songs, prayers, kisses and out goes the light. I climb the stairs with my very last bit of energy. I glance at the kitchen, sigh, roll my eyes and turning my back on it and plop down on the couch. I turn on the computer, kindle, or TV and check out for the next two hours, till I can muster up just enough energy to move from the couch to the bed.
At the beginning of the new year I took sometime to look at ways I can Own My Life. I realized that I could spend my evenings checking out or I could invest in me. Thus I deiced to carve out time to invest in myself at the end of my day.
The point of the Wine Down/ Tea Down time is to integrate things I love into my evenings, and to simply love and care for myself as well. I purposely focus my time on indulging of my spirit, heart, body, and sanity.
Now when I climb the stairs I avoid eye contact with the kitchen all together and reach for my device of choice, because lets face it, We all love our social media and Netflix marathons. Hey it's o.k. to take a break. However, at 9 o´clock the devices go off and the prayer room comes on. I light candles and dim the lights deliberately creating an atmosphere of peace, tranquility, and relaxation which is a rare occurrence in a house filled with 6 kids 11 and under.
I pour myself a glass of wine or make myself a cup of tea, and I sit back down to feed my heart and spirit. It happens in all different forms and varies night to night. It might be a heart to heart with my wonderful husband, a book by one of my favorite authors, leisurely work on a craft project, or take a bubble bath.
When my glass/cup is empty I start to work on my body. I have never been good at having a bedtime routine, I wasn't exaggerating when I said from couch to bed. At the beginning of the year I came to terms with the fact that I am not getting any younger and it is time to start to take care of my teeth, face, and feet. Yes, my feet!
Right before I get into bed for a good nights sleep, I put my worries to rest first. My pet peeve is walking on food, so I sweep the floor in our great room, this cuts down on the food being tracked to other parts of the house. As a gift to myself I am saving up for an i robot. Then I clean off our island. The whole space just seems more peaceful when I have the center of our home clear of clutter and ready to be used for preparing the next meal. There have been miraculous nights where I have been able to get the whole kitchen cleaned up, but those tend to be few and far in between. Most nights I ¨pick and put¨ as my Aunt Val would put it. I take the mess from the table and put it on the counter, then deal with it when we are through with school the next day.
Having this hour at night has been a life changing anchor in my day. I love my life and we are so blessed. I just have to remind myself to take time to enjoy it every once in awhile. I want to encourage each of you to give yourself some special attention everyday. You are a hard working mama. Treat yourself with something beautiful, loving, and enjoyable each night.
You deserve it!
What things you do in the evening to refresh and energize yourself?
Please share with me I love hearing your ideas.
Please connect with me here or on Facebook or Instagram.
Comments
Post a Comment