I'm not a perfect house keeper. My home is clean, but lived in. I do keep it very clean. I sweep, vacuum and dust almost every day, but it doesn't look like a museum either. But when this depression set in, my house, though I still swept every day, began to look like I didn't care anymore. Even my husband was troubled by it. You know I didn't go on any medication, I simply got a call from my best friend, after my hubby, bless his heart, called her out of concern. She laid it on the line, and told me everything about my life she could only dream of having. I have a wonderful husband who loves me with a passion, would never even think of cheating on me, has never abused me, and would do anything to make me happy. I have three wonderful children, though not perfect, they do love me and I them. I have a nice home, and the ability to stay at home and take care of my family. We are now virtually debt free, other than two small cards we use and then pay back off. My life is looking really good right now. So why was it I was unhappy. Because I didn't take time out for me!
Ladies, you have to put yourself first. If you don't take care of you, who will? If you don't take care of you, then you can't be there to take care of the ones you love. I use to have a career, work out, stayed healthy and fit, had a social life, took time out for a bath and a book. But somewhere along the way I let life take control of me instead of me taking control of it. I gave up my career with baby number three (I don't regret that), I quit working out because it was too easy to do, I no longer had a schedule to follow, I got lazy basically, I gained weight, I lost contact with many of my associates, and I quit taking time for myself unless it was on the computer. The computer became my escape. Problem was it took me away from the house, my health, my husband and my kids. That wasn't good.
Today I have a schedule again. You may think well why, you're only a house wife. Because being a house wife is like any other profession. If you want it to work you need to run it like a well oiled machine. Which includes every element I need to feel like I am functioning at my best.
Here is a sample of my schedule:
- 7:00 am Wake up, Breakfast, and get Christopher ready for school.
- 8:00 am Christopher out the door and start house work
- 10:00 am Exercise
- 10:30 am Shower
- 11:00 am Business Planning: Plan out the phone calls, follow ups, story books to build, research to do, run reports, and any other business items to take care of that day for my new business as a Heritage Makers Consultant.
- 11:30 am Some genealogy research if there is time.
- 12:00 pm Lunch and then Jamie down for a nap while Justin plays quietly. (notice I don't do much business during the AM when Jamie is awake. That would be a very fruitless effort. It's better to do house work during that time)
- 1:00 pm Genealogy research on client accounts or my own. Storybooking of my own or if a client needs help.
- 2:00 pm Make at least 5 calls to potential hostesses or future consultants. Try to book at lest one party per week or four parties per month.
- 3:00 pm Dr. Phill and laundry. Watch Dr. Phil while folding and putting away the days laundry.
- 4:00 pm Christopher. This hour is set aside to help Christopher with his homework. We'll see how I do. I have very little patients, but he is doing very poorly in school and needs extra attention.
- 5:00 pm Dinner
- 6:00 pm (Wednesday) Bath time
- 7:00 pm Bath time for kids
- 7:00 pm (Wednesday) Game time
- 8:00 pm Bedtime for Kids. Hubby time for rest of night.
This is what works for me, and I will change it from time to time when it needs to be. Every body is different. But every woman knows control brings happiness in a household. Once again I have a career (based around my family life), healthy and fit, a social life, and a little time for me and time for the hubby.
2 comments:
I've been afraid to actually write down some sort of schedule because I might find it impossible to stick to it. But I do follow a schedule of sorts. Especially now with the homeschooling. Time is more precious. There are no more spare moments to "catch up" on the things that I put off yesterday. Gotta get it done now or it might not get done for a long time. All the while, though, we can't lose sight of the most important thing on the schedule... Just spending fun time with our families.
I deal with the depression. So much that I was recently hospitalized. I am a step-mom/housewife. My kids live with their mom in another state. Keeping a schedule is hard, and I ran across your blog, and wanted to say, first hi, I am Krystal. Lol. In your shoes, aside from the kids, and second, good job. Housewives don't get that often. But sweety, amazing job. Keep up the good work. Have you checked out www.flylady.net? Another great tool. Just wanted to send some encouragement your way. And to say I understand.
God bless.
Krystal
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