Your kids are away at camp and although you thought you’d be using this time to flop on the sofa and vegetate, you find yourself ancy, walking around, wondering what to do with all this time on your hands! The very fact that you have some extra time is, funny enough, stressing you out! You don’t know what to do or where to begin!
Here are 10 fantastic things you can do to fill that precious time:
1. Sit down with your partner and brainstorm a list of things you used to love doing together then schedule at least 3-4 of those on your calendar.
2. Book a massage. Remember the feeling of treating yourself and how amazing you feel after a massage. You may even make this a monthly event after this!
3. Read a novel that you’ve wanted to. After experiencing the joy of stepping in another world. You might make this a regular habit.
4. Have afternoon naps. Eat lunch then retire to the place you nap best and enjoy recharging your battery.
5. Go clothes shopping on your own. Gone are the days of leisurely spending 3 hours in a mall. Even if you don’t buy much, just the freedom to try things on is brilliant fun!
6. Go for coffee with a girlfriend. Catch up with a friend without the pressure to get home.
7. Try new recipes. Put on some great music and cook a recipe that you’ve been eyeing for a while, but didn’t want to try out on the kids. You may find 1 or 2 winners!
8. Go for long, leisurely walks with your sweetie and promise NOT to talk about the kids. A great idea to spark conversation is to say a word like “BUS” and your partner has to share an interesting story of them and a bus. You’d be amazed at how the conversation can begin about a funny experience your partner had on a bus and then switches to something totally different just by you asking them a question during the story.
9. Clean and organize cupboards and drawers. Sometimes all we need is calmness, quiet and a little favourite music to get us to do those things on our TO DO LIST that we procrastinate on. Use this time and feel GREAT!
10. Exercise. Whether is be jogging, doing yoga, or going to a Zumba class, do this for yourself. You’ll feel great and re-energized!
Erin Kurt, parenting & life coach to working mothers, and founder of ErinParenting, is also the author of Juggling Family Life and creator of The Life Balance Formula and the How to Get Your Child to Listen program.