Mommy Mondays: Time for You

Being a mother is a full time job.  Like many jobs, it is both challenging, and rewarding.  But unlike most jobs, there is no "vacation time."

Wanting a break from your children doesn't make you a bad parent.  It doesn't mean you don't love them with every ounce of your being.  But being a mom is not easy, and without some recharge time, you can't do your job to the best of your ability.

It's really important that you find some time for yourself.  This can be an hour during the day when you shut the bathroom door and run a steaming bath.  The weekly dinners with the girls.  The monthly dates with your spouse.  The time where you can just be you - not "mom"  (or in my case - maaaaaaaa-oooooommmm).

I love my weekly runs with my girlfriends.  Yes, it's early in the morning.  And yes I hate getting up early, but it's a couple hours a week where I am just me.  I can focus on me.  I have no one to answer to. 

I love my moms' night outs.  Even if they're not as often as I'd like, the ability to sit around with my nearest and dearest as we laugh and drink and go over all the interesting things that have happened to us over the past weeks.  It makes me feel as though I were in college again.

And this past weekend, when I was part of the Fit Foodie race weekend, I got a hotel room downtown.  Just for me.  Well, at least the first night.  Friday night after work I checked into the hotel and got dolled up for a cocktail party.  After I grabbed a salad from one of my favorite restaurants and ate it on a king sized bed while watching television.  So decadent.  After the race Saturday, I returned to the room for a long hot shower (with no interruptions!) then curled back up in a robe in the bed.    The boys joined me later in the afternoon, but those few hours of respite made me feel like a new person again.

And that's really what every mom needs.  Time to recharge, refresh, renew.  It makes you better able to handle the pressures of motherhood and makes you a better you.