A Day in the Life of a Mom (with a few of my own embellishments)
6:30 AM Get up to the alarm clock playing Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Taking Care
of Business”.
6:50 Wake up teenage children; wear thick skin to deflect complaints.
7:00 Eat breakfast, Pop Tart for me, anything they will accept that has less than 500 calories for them.
7:30 Drive car pool, consider home schooling as carpool line is like traffic at O’Hare airport.
9:00 Shower.
9:05 Run out of hot water for shower.
9:30 Get dressed. Discover that dog has chewed only shoes that match outfit.
10:15 Arrive at church to help in distributing poinsettias as fundraiser.
10:16 Ask if anyone wants a dog.
11:30 Get call from youngest offspring; lunch crises! Food at school not fit to feed Guantanamo prisoners. Must bring edible lunch stat.
12:00 Arrive at school with Chick-fil-A value pack for child, pack of crackers for me.
12:30 Free time.
12:31 Busy body friend calls cell phone; just wanted to chat.
1:30 Chat concludes, arrange for second mortgage to pay cell phone bill.
2:20 Get in carpool line for youngest child, wonder if all mothers trained in demolition derby.
3:00 Youngest daughter arrives to car.
“How was your day?”
“Fine.”
“Learn anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
3:45 Call home to make sure older daughter made it there safely.
“How was your day?”
“Fine.”
“Learn anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
3:47 Debate merits of private school tuition.
4:00 Get home. Argue with oldest daughter about …everything.
4:30 Start 16 loads of laundry, sand blast kitchen, rake up dog hair from living room(plan to donate to Locks of Love).
5:00 Loving husband arrives with flowers and offer to take out to dinner.
5:01 Day dream over. Husband comes home stressed about credit card bill.
5:30 Begin dinner preparation.
5:32 Give up on Rachel Ray recipe and throw Betty Crocker Boil in a bag dinner in
microwave.
6:00 Family dinner. Discussion of why piercing and tattoos in a 15 year old sends wrong message to college placement advisors.
7:05 Help oldest daughter on calculus homework.
7:10 Remember why you hated calculus.
8:00 Relax with husband.
8:01 Make phone calls for school volleyball team fundraiser.
10:00 Kids to bed (theoretically).
10:15 Fold 16 loads of laundry, wonder how husband can go through 12 pairs of
underwear in one week.
11:00 Go to bed. Dream blissfully of waking up in the morning and doing it all again.
The achievement of the American dream is predicated by a culture of work, work, and more work. Daily we are bombarded with the virtues of busyness. We live in a time where relaxation and rest is equated with slothfulness. We have to stop the madness! I realize it is heretical in this McFrenzied world, but stopping to smell the French fries is okay, and at times preferable to filling every minute of every day with activity. More important, it is not healthy to always be busy.
Numerous studies have elucidated that busyness (defined as a perception of being over-schedued or suffering time pressure) puts you at risk for a diversity of disease states. Diabetes, hypertension, some forms of cancer, gastrointestinal problems, obesity, premature labor, heart attacks, and strokes are lust a few of the medical problems that list emotional and physical fatigue as a risk factor.
You cannot achieve wellness when you are not rested. Balance is the key. The problem in 21st century American culture is that rest is not a priority. Understand that this is a decision. There are no laws that dictate workaholism is a requirement for success. This applies to both those who get paid for their work and the significant part of the population that constitute stay at home spouses. To be healthy in mind, body and spirit, you have to achieve a healthy balance of structured activity and rest.
Dr. Richard Swensen is a leading authority on the benefits of rest. His book, Margin, (NavPress 1992) takes examples from his own medical practice and combines this with studies from the world literature to provide insight into ways of restoring emotional, physical, and time reserves to overloaded lives. He uses the term “margin” to describe something that is held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. In other words, it’s the physical and emotional cushion we have to soften the landing of inevitable stresses, disease, conflict and turmoil. If we lack margin then any disturbance, big or small, puts us over the edge and creates the conditions for physical and emotional deterioration. He asserts that rest is one of the greatest tools for gaining and sustaining margin in your life.
Swensen recognizes that you need rest in three specific areas of your life; physical, emotional, and spiritual. Each area is unique, yet they are all intertwined in the complex fabric of who you are. At any given time you may need to focus on physical rest, as when you have had a particular strenuous exercise session, whereas another day may necessitate dumping emotional baggage to “rest the brain.” This is a dynamic process that, once you understand the principal, can restore, revive and renew
6:30 AM Get up to the alarm clock playing Bachman Turner Overdrive’s “Taking Care
of Business”.
6:50 Wake up teenage children; wear thick skin to deflect complaints.
7:00 Eat breakfast, Pop Tart for me, anything they will accept that has less than 500 calories for them.
7:30 Drive car pool, consider home schooling as carpool line is like traffic at O’Hare airport.
9:00 Shower.
9:05 Run out of hot water for shower.
9:30 Get dressed. Discover that dog has chewed only shoes that match outfit.
10:15 Arrive at church to help in distributing poinsettias as fundraiser.
10:16 Ask if anyone wants a dog.
11:30 Get call from youngest offspring; lunch crises! Food at school not fit to feed Guantanamo prisoners. Must bring edible lunch stat.
12:00 Arrive at school with Chick-fil-A value pack for child, pack of crackers for me.
12:30 Free time.
12:31 Busy body friend calls cell phone; just wanted to chat.
1:30 Chat concludes, arrange for second mortgage to pay cell phone bill.
2:20 Get in carpool line for youngest child, wonder if all mothers trained in demolition derby.
3:00 Youngest daughter arrives to car.
“How was your day?”
“Fine.”
“Learn anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
3:45 Call home to make sure older daughter made it there safely.
“How was your day?”
“Fine.”
“Learn anything?”
“Yes.”
“What?”
“Nothing.”
3:47 Debate merits of private school tuition.
4:00 Get home. Argue with oldest daughter about …everything.
4:30 Start 16 loads of laundry, sand blast kitchen, rake up dog hair from living room(plan to donate to Locks of Love).
5:00 Loving husband arrives with flowers and offer to take out to dinner.
5:01 Day dream over. Husband comes home stressed about credit card bill.
5:30 Begin dinner preparation.
5:32 Give up on Rachel Ray recipe and throw Betty Crocker Boil in a bag dinner in
microwave.
6:00 Family dinner. Discussion of why piercing and tattoos in a 15 year old sends wrong message to college placement advisors.
7:05 Help oldest daughter on calculus homework.
7:10 Remember why you hated calculus.
8:00 Relax with husband.
8:01 Make phone calls for school volleyball team fundraiser.
10:00 Kids to bed (theoretically).
10:15 Fold 16 loads of laundry, wonder how husband can go through 12 pairs of
underwear in one week.
11:00 Go to bed. Dream blissfully of waking up in the morning and doing it all again.
The achievement of the American dream is predicated by a culture of work, work, and more work. Daily we are bombarded with the virtues of busyness. We live in a time where relaxation and rest is equated with slothfulness. We have to stop the madness! I realize it is heretical in this McFrenzied world, but stopping to smell the French fries is okay, and at times preferable to filling every minute of every day with activity. More important, it is not healthy to always be busy.
Numerous studies have elucidated that busyness (defined as a perception of being over-schedued or suffering time pressure) puts you at risk for a diversity of disease states. Diabetes, hypertension, some forms of cancer, gastrointestinal problems, obesity, premature labor, heart attacks, and strokes are lust a few of the medical problems that list emotional and physical fatigue as a risk factor.
You cannot achieve wellness when you are not rested. Balance is the key. The problem in 21st century American culture is that rest is not a priority. Understand that this is a decision. There are no laws that dictate workaholism is a requirement for success. This applies to both those who get paid for their work and the significant part of the population that constitute stay at home spouses. To be healthy in mind, body and spirit, you have to achieve a healthy balance of structured activity and rest.
Dr. Richard Swensen is a leading authority on the benefits of rest. His book, Margin, (NavPress 1992) takes examples from his own medical practice and combines this with studies from the world literature to provide insight into ways of restoring emotional, physical, and time reserves to overloaded lives. He uses the term “margin” to describe something that is held in reserve for contingencies or unanticipated situations. In other words, it’s the physical and emotional cushion we have to soften the landing of inevitable stresses, disease, conflict and turmoil. If we lack margin then any disturbance, big or small, puts us over the edge and creates the conditions for physical and emotional deterioration. He asserts that rest is one of the greatest tools for gaining and sustaining margin in your life.
Swensen recognizes that you need rest in three specific areas of your life; physical, emotional, and spiritual. Each area is unique, yet they are all intertwined in the complex fabric of who you are. At any given time you may need to focus on physical rest, as when you have had a particular strenuous exercise session, whereas another day may necessitate dumping emotional baggage to “rest the brain.” This is a dynamic process that, once you understand the principal, can restore, revive and renew
