Work time and "me" time

[sumi]

I saw this quote this morning and it got me thinking, not because I'm a slacker when it comes to house work, but because I am guilty of this at times. Putting aside things I'd like to do for me, instead doing things that I feel I should be doing rather. This sometimes ends up making me feel overwhelmed and eventually more unproductive, because I'm so busy running through the "need to do", that I forget to do "me" as well. How often do you, men and woman, skip "me time" in favour of doing what you feel you should be doing instead?

“I've seen women insist on cleaning everything in the house before they could sit down to write... and you know it's a funny thing about housecleaning... it never comes to an end. Perfect way to stop a woman. A woman must be careful to not allow over-responsibility (or over-respectabilty) to steal her necessary creative rests, riffs, and raptures. She simply must put her foot down and say no to half of what she believes she "should" be doing. Art is not meant to be created in stolen moments only.”

― Clarissa Pinkola Estés

 

[Britesea]

I remember a woman "complaining" that she had to stay up until midnight when everyone else was in bed so she could mop the kitchen floor. I'm afraid I looked at her as if she had suddenly sprouted a second head, and asked her why she didn't just announce that the kitchen floor was wet and STAY OUT.

I learned to clean really quickly and efficiently because I hate housework and I wanted to get through it as soon as possible, so as to go on to what I DID want to do.
I don't have the energy to do as much as I used to, so the house isn't as clean as it used to be. As long as the kitchen, bathroom, and laundry get done- I don't care about the rest. People visit to spend time with us, not to inspect our home.

 

[NH Homesteader]

Um.... My house is never spotless. I blame it on the dogs. It's only kinda their fault, lol.

But seriously, clutter, laundry and dishes bother me. The rest I can live with. My mother can't stand my house because she's a clean freak. I'm just not!

I figure I'll never look back at life and wish I spent more time cleaning the house.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

"Me time"..is now taking front seat in my life.

 

[FarmerJamie]

My wife is on me about this all the time. Lol. It's difficult. We still need to sort the mess created by our move.

She made me sit down and watch a favorite movie Sunday afternoon

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Amen, sistah! There have been times in my life that I was so busy taking care of people and things that there were no more hours left in the day. I HAD to go to work, I HAD to take care of the animals, I HAD to take care of my parents, and I HAD to take care of DH. The only thing I could slack off on was a bit of housework. I never slacked on cooking, kitchen cleaning or laundry...but dusting and mopping had very large intervals in between, lol.

And, I refuse to feel guilty about it at all!

 

[sumi]

Exactly right! And it's not just house work, is everything we need to do, work, demands from family, etc as well.

 

[FarmerJamie]

"Me time"..is now taking front seat in my life.

Yes, we all have those moments. You need it to decompress sometimes

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

When my kids were little, I was mopping that floor 2 to 3x a day.

 

[tortoise]

When my DS2 was a baby, we were in a study. PArt of which was taking environmental samples. One of which was vacuuming under where baby slept. That was when I realized we'd lived in this house for *years* and I had never vacuumed the bedroom once.

I have some pretty good excuses though! First working crazy-long hours, and then on bedrest and not allowed to lift anything over 1 pound.

I try to get everything clean once per day. Usually mid-morning. And by evening you can't tell I did anything. DH accused me of not doing housework so I took photos of the clean house and emailed him in the morning so he'd believe it.

I struggle with not doing my art when there is work to be done. But mostly it's that I can't be interrupted. So I can't draw when DS10 is home. I used to draw at night, but losing sleep would make me a crab during the day, sot that doesn't work. IDK. It (not drawing) is slowly becoming my life's regret.