You’ve had two weeks of making observations and lists…time to take those lists and put them to good use! Use them as a reference for daily ideas about what you and your children can do during their Alone Time.
Do you feel like you don’t have enough on your lists? Make new ones. Search more on Pinterest or on yayamamas Facebook and Instagram pages. Spend this week doing more research…that’s an action that will move you closer to more focused Alone Time. Having trouble settling your mind when you finally get a minute? Research “mindfulness” or do a search for ways to combat anxiety—that, too, is a step toward more quality Alone Time.
Give yourself permission to be/do/think as you
Carve out the time and take it, even if it is five minutes. Decide on some self-care, choose something that will fill you up…and do it.
Are you so disconnected from Alone Time that you’re not sure what to do with it? Try picking one thing and just doing it. Try something you love. Or simply go outside and take deep breaths.
If you get interrupted, take a deep breath and try again. It’s not about getting from point A to point B, it’s about enjoying the in between moments.
Today is about trying to be with your thoughts. Journaling might be where your Alone Time begins and ends today. How did it go today? What did you do? Did you love your Alone Time? Were you interrupted? Were you able to recover or did it make you want to give up?
Try again…
Try again…because trying something once doesn’t mean that’s how it will always be, because yayas know every day is different, because change is constant, because enjoyment cannot be replicated exactly every time. Try something again. How’d it go? Were the results similar or different?
Take the time
Take the time. Sit down. Pick up that book or newspaper. Talk the bath or shower. Take it. Do it.
How’d it go? Write about it. Doodle about it. Breathe about it.
Try again
Mommy steps. Alone Time takes practice. Every day looks different. What worked today? What time of day did you have a minute? What activity? If you’re journaling, sometimes just the act of writing in a journal is the self reflection/deep breath space we’re after. The thoughts you’re jotting down are your thoughts. The doodles on the sides of the pages are your doodles.
Read an article on mindfulness
Read an article on mindfulness (we’ll share a few in our Facebook group!). Just take a moment to take it all in. Great input can create/foster great output.
That moment of reading can totally count as your daily Alone Time if you’re keeping track. What struck you the most about what you read? A big idea? A small concept?
Action day!
Action day! Apply some point or idea from yesterday’s reading. What was it? How did it go?
How’s it going?
Great? Frustrating? Fair to midland? I hope you keep trying. Lost in the chaos is what we are trying to climb out of. If it ever feels impossible to get a minute to yourself, I encourage you to go outside and take a deep breath. Even one breath of fresh air is better than none. Mommy steps. One breath at a time.