Me time or the dishes?

It has been a few months since I wrote this post about Me time or the lack thereof in which parents do not get much of and I have been reflecting recently on how busy life really is. I am laughing to myself as I read back on my ramblings in this post as I spotted Mr Tubridy decked out in his Christmas jumper. He was there as a reference that I was so far behind in watching some shows that the Toy show was being advertised! So between then and now has much has changed ?

Late bedtimes still happen. This is regardless of the fact that sickness has pretty much dominated this household in one form or another since the twins started pre-school. A cough of some description hacks through the night, every night yet I just cannot drag myself to bed early despite the fact that I can now time the hours that the coughing will commence,rousing me from sleep to stumble bleary eyed into the affected child. There is no avoiding going to bed late in order to have that time alone. It was 8.45pm before the kids were settled in bed tonight.  I have sacrificed the tidy kitchen in lieu of writing time. To me that is worth it to others it might nag at their conscious. Yes I will moan to myself tomorrow that the kitchen is a mess but bedtime needs to stay before midnight and if it’s a toss between a tidy kitchen or some downtime for me then downtime wins,hands down!

Now instead of idly flicking through social media all night or watching TV, I am being a lot more productive in things that matter to me, things that I am passionate about. I am writing more, reading more and have added a new workout class to my fitness regime. I am making more time for me for things I like to do instead of staring mindlessly at a screen. Now don’t get me wrong I am far too nosy to ever fully disengage from social media viewing. However, I am alot more mindful of the fact that if I sit there half the night scrolling, then my dreams will never go further than that and remain dreams. Crappy television will always have its place, sometimes it is the only thing that will work and quieten a frazzled head!

I am happy to be back reading more but this is a double-edged sword as reading is so relaxing for me that I tend to nod off. Through my bed rest with the twins, of the 136 books on my Kindle, sixty-five percent were read in that three-month period. Outside of breastfeeding twins and sleeping twins manuals( which promptly went into trash) I read very little in the first year and slowly got back to reading once they turned one. Now I am enjoying discovering new authors, predominantly very talented Irish women and loving that reading is well and truly back in me time!

I have resigned myself to the fact that me time will never happen when I sneak out to the bathroom as one child always suddenly appears desperate for the toilet. Nor will it happen when I am putting away the clothes in the bedrooms as my bed is a magnet for the twins to play hide and seek in.  Time is limited and time is precious once the kids have gone to bed and I want to make the most of it. I read recently do something that makes you happy every day and whilst the frazzle and stresses of working full-time as a parent will never fully go away, I am heading in the right direction.

**image Pexels