Mom Life: How to schedule when you don't own your schedule

Do you ever set your mind to something, get super pumped, structured and then get overstimulated by what it will take? Or do you second guess yourself?

The interesting thing is, I get so excited about so many different things, but at times it can be a lot to schedule and create structure, when you don't own your schedule. The greatest job I will ever have is being a mama, my three earth side kiddos and angel baby fill my cup in ways I never knew I needed. Mom guilt is NO joke and I feel like it can intensify with the more time you spend with your kiddos, at least this is the case for me. So what can I do, for me, to fill my cup, to find joy, to do the things I want to do for me? What is my definition of self-care? So many questions fill my brain and then I realize, more energy is spent trying to figure out what it is I want to do, then actually trying things on and doing them. 

I'm okay with this, as it has served some kind of a purpose, but I have begun to reframe and restructure my viewpoint on what time management looks like when you don't own your schedule....

• Grace, lots and lots of grace
• Setting goals and then letting those goals go
• Finding gratitude for anything that gets done
• Setting a timer while cleaning and whatever gets done gets done
• FINALLY using the calendar feature on my phone - blocking out my time
• Honoring my capacity
• No is a complete sentence

I feel like cleaning our house is a never-ending cycle, and I think it was literally within the last four weeks that I have surrendered to the fact, our house will always be messy in some capacity. I'm trying to reframe the idea of a mess as finding gratitude for the littles creating the mess. It's okay, cause this isn't forever. So now, I have started setting a timer, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, or 20 minutes and whatever gets cleaned in that time frame is what gets cleaned. I surprise myself sometimes realizing how much I can actually get done within the window of time. This also gives me some kind of structure before I move on to what is next, or to take pause, catch my breath.

See that is the thing, I've always liked structure, to-do lists, I've been a very linear person most of my life, so that has been one of the bigger obstacles for me in mommy-hood is letting go of this idea of what it is supposed to be. Allowing the fluidity of life to guide what happens and be WAY more flexible, because literally that is what it is about.

So my question is this, what can you do for yourself that fills your cup with joy? What does self-care mean for you? How do you manage your time, when you don't own your schedule? When you strip away all the roles of who you are, who are you?

Hoping you find what you need in your days and as you go into your weekend.

Ash

Just a mom trying to raise kind humans