The Importance of “Me Time”

Before writing my first blog post, I thought I would take a moment to introduce myself. My name is Shianne and I am a 25 year old, single mother, to a beautiful, happy, full of energy, six month old boy, named Kaiden . He has completely changed my world and no matter how many dirty diapers I have to change, how many times I get pooped on, peed on or puked on, I wouldn’t change motherhood for anything.

I consider myself to be a young mom. Most of my friends are still immature, partying on the weekends and trying to remember who, or what they did the night before. They are nowhere near being ready to settle down, or even think about bringing a baby into this world. There are times that I wish my days could go unplanned. That I didn’t have to schedule doctor appointments, play dates and mom’s groups a week in advance. I wish I could sleep in until noon, wake up, decide I want to hit the slopes and then go for dinner and see a late movie, calling it a night at 4am. I wish I could still have “me time.”

For the first four months of my son’s life, the concept of “me time” was nonexistent. I literally spent every waking second with my son. I had zero balance in my life and at the end of those four months, I had driven myself crazy. So crazy I probably could have been committed. I could not go anywhere without him, I could not enjoy my night when he went to sleep at 7pm because I had to check on him every five minutes, and I had a hard time sleeping once I put him in his crib in his own room. I was insane. The idea of having five minutes to myself was ridiculous. I had a laundry pile as high as Mount Everest waiting for me, the floors had to be scrubbed of fallen food, spit up, and the waterfall of drool my son left behind, and the toys had to be put away before I slipped, fell down the stairs and broke my leg. Spare time did not exist in my life.
 

I had a lot of hobbies during my pregnancy. One of them being scrap booking. One day, while Kaiden was peacefully asleep in his crib, and I was finally able to enjoy five minutes before he telepathically read my mind that mommy was going to do something for herself and start crying, I pulled out an unfinished scrap book from my travels the year prior. All of a sudden, the urge to reflect on my adventures and complete the project, overwhelmed me. I slowly started to get back the passion for the “me time” I once had. Kaiden is now six months old, and I have finally found the balance I need, and am able to enjoy the “me time” I so desperately need. Although my motherly duties are never finished, I make sure I take time out of my day, everyday, to do something that I enjoy. Whether it is a nice relaxing bath when he goes for a nap, or reading a few pages of my book when he’s in his Exersaucer, or whether it is watching a movie with a big bag of popcorn, in the dark, alone on my couch when he goes down for the night. Having that time to myself each day makes me feel more balanced and makes me an overall happy person.

So to all you moms out there who think that you are “too busy” to spare a few minutes each day to enjoy some “me time,” I give you permission to put down the pile of laundry, stop cleaning, and stop putting everyone else’s needs ahead of your own, even if it is just for five minutes, and do something that YOU enjoy. Go on, I dare you...