I’ve been given a reprieve.
DH took the kids to FLA for the weekend leaving me to recharge for two whole days!
I started thinking about this weeks ago. How exactly do I want to spend my FREEtime?
I could call up my single friend to see what she’s doing. An evening out with her is always eventful. But usually entails a day of recovery on the flip side. With only two to myself, I can’t spend one of them in bed. Scratch that idea.
Sign Me Up For This Retreat!
Then I received the Kripalu catalog in the mail. I LOVE getting these! You know how some women are with their fashion mags, or gossip rags? They block out a chunk of time to slowly turn the pages of their indulgence while letting themselves sink into the fantasy. Well, I do this with retreat centers. I wait until the kids go to sleep, and then get swept away by the holistic offerings of these places. I often find one or two programs that suit my fancy — something like Dance Your Heart Wild, or Awaken Your Energy Yoga –– I may even check the calendar to see what my availability is. But I never commit.
Not anymore.
Honestly, these days…that’s not how I’d choose to spend my time away from home.
But it is how I’d spend my time home! I can create an at-home retreat for the two days!
Immediately, I started searching for yoga workshops, or anything local that intrigued. Like a four hour something I could delve deeply into without any time constraints or distractions. I kept my eyes open online, and in class, but nothing showed up. The Let’s Fly inversion workshop didn’t really appeal. Nor did the Chakra Tune-Up.
Fine, I didn’t need an organized workshop. I could just take class.
And take care of my soul.
YES!
That’s what I’ll do. I’ll nourish my soul. I’ll recharge. And replenish.
So what exactly does that look like? Taking care of my soul? I know there’s a book out there…Care of the Soul by Thomas Moore. I think I even have it on my shelf somewhere. But I don’t need a book to tell me how to care for MY soul. That’s the beauty of it! I get to decide how it happens!!
And this is how I do it:
Yoga
Write something that matters to ME here
Write something else to keep the muscle sharp
See a movie (Blue Jasmine, highly recommend!)
Dance Party in my living room listening to some weird spiritually driven music like Alice Coltrane Universal of Consciousness
Eat vegetarian with lots of onions (I always have to omit them from my meals re: the kids)
Read Yoga And The Quest For The True Self (Awesome book which requires major concentration. It’s like I’m reading the encyclopedia i.e. important information)
Drink Green Juice
Watch a music documentary (Made In America — it grabbed me surprisingly)
Watch Super Soul Sunday (Of course Oprah is included!)
Forget about the Time
Slow Down and Do Nothing!
**Notice that “sleep-in” isn’t on the list.
It would’ve been except DH’s alarm went off. But it’s okay because that brings me back to the part that I don’t want to spend my time in bed.
**And of course Mom’s work must be done even when she’s off the clock. Grocery shopping and organizing childcare never seem to go away. Oh, and cleaning up. I’m always effing cleaning up!
So it doesn’t have to be a complete drop out/tune in to take care of my soul. In fact, it’s the opposite.
It’s whatever lights me up, or whatever moves me — both inside and out.
How do you take care of your soul?
Pretty much the same in theory. Sundays are often my day to recharge, go my own speed, whatever strikes my fancy.
Yes, I do laundry and other household chores but they somehow don’t seem like chores.
Sunday is really known as Myday to me.
Go my own speed — that’s a great way to put it. I hope you’re enjoying “MyDay” today!
Thank you!
Glad you found some ways to enjoy the space.
On a similar note. I have a day to myself coming up – wife’s at work and boys have school. I’ve been looking forward to it for a while. I have 9 different things I want to do and have been trying to think how to best use the time. It’s just so nice to have space.
I’m gonna confess — there was some pressure (put on by ME) to use the time wisely…to not waste this precious space that’s been given. But the point is to enjoy…so whatever that means to YOU is the best use of time. Maybe that means doing all 9 things (is that even possible?) or maybe it’s just 1. ENJOY!
Love this post! This weekend I’m catching up on my reading (plowing through Lost Girls right now), saw Thor with the girls on Friday night, tried cleaning up and organizing the place a bit (operative word is ‘tried’) and that’s about it.
Sounds like you got it all in…and with some extra time to spare 🙂 xo
haha…now I’m reading my peer support volunteer manual.
I am certainly going to try.
It’s amazing how a little “me” times sets us up just fine.
Cheers!
It really does set us up well. Now I get to apply this “recharged energy” back into my family, and all that matters.
I LOVE this! That sounds like my kind of weekend. I haven’t had that much time away in awhile, but I did take a day to myself a few weeks ago and sent my daughter off to daycare that day. I attended a yoga class in the middle of the day and got a massage. It was spectacular and I felt so refreshed and ready to deal with anything afterward.
I’ve still got a few more hours left, and am seriously considering a massage!! That’s the one thing I feel was left out of the weekend.
Oh, yes–massage! Hope you went with that, or something else delicious. I feel the same way about retreat catalogues–just imagining the various offerings is refreshing! I feel that having time/space allows me to be more intentional, even if I go to the same dance class or tea shop, I am better able to focus on the experience and absorb….as long as I’m not pressuring myself to TO DO MORE. Thanks for the cool post, so happy you enjoyed your time, and shared with us. xo
ST, I didn’t end up getting a massage because I was just having too much fun home alone! I totally agree with you about how the time/space helps find more focus/ intention to everything. I’m feeling pretty great now! Thanks for bringing your thoughtful comments here. xoxo