Today I just couldn’t be arsed. I barely slept a wink last night for some reason (pretty sure it wasn’t the vodka) and woke up to pouring rain and a similar sleep deprived mental state. Kinda reminded me of those early days with a new baby, urggh..
Lying in bed contemplating the effort involved in my usual Tuesday, I made an executive decision.
Fuck it. This particular Tuesday has been officially called off.
No work. No shopping. No cleaning. No agenda. No stress.
The kids, thankfully, seemed to be enjoying a rare moment of getting-along-edness so I simply rolled over, snuggled deeper into the warm bed and dozed off.
I was practically shaken awake at 845am by Albi demanding some form of nutritional sustenance and Grace whining from the safe confines of her bedroom that she didn’t wish to attend school (for no apparent reason).
In my foggy-headed reduced capacity, and understanding the ridiculous rush / yelling / fighting that would be required, I consented to a day off, as long as she made Albi breakfast. I once again dozed peacefully.
Win win all round!
Of course I couldn’t keep the monkeys confined to the house all day for fear of having to mediate the inevitable fights, so at a leisurely 10.30am we mosied into town for Albi’s weekly circus class.
Our moods had improved markedly by the end of the class, assisted by my second strong cup of coffee for the day and some good friend’s smiling faces, and all I felt was lingering tiredness, which was easily sorted out with a quick nanna-nap after lunch while the kids watched a movie.
Fast forward a few hours, after a throw together dinner, I was treated to a head massage from Grace while Albi gave me a (painful) belly massage. (mental note: teach Albi non-ninja massage techniques) Now read into this as you will but I believe they call this gratitude.
All in all, we ended up having a very peaceful, flowing, relaxed kind of day. And we are all happy.
My point to this whole story? Simple:
The world can wait. Your happiness is more important. Your children’s happiness is more important.
In my opinion, there is absolutely no point in pushing yourself to the brink of sanity for the sake of routine, task completion or for the benefit of others. (except, sometimes, for your kids)
Is it not more important that your children see that you place their happiness and health above all else? That teaching them that listening to thier own body, spirit and mind, and responding accordingly, should be their first priority in life?
Well I do think this (rightly or wrongly) and regardless of other opinions, it seems to be working out just fine for us so far. (If anything changes you’ll be sure to hear about it!)
What does it really matter in the long run if they miss a few days of school. Or that project I’m working on is delayed by a day. Or that we have leftovers for dinner, again. Or we have to dig through the unfolded washing to find clean undies. It doesn’t. The world keeps spinning. No point sweating the small stuff.
If my children can wake up and go to sleep with a smile on their face and peace in their heart, then I think we’re doing a pretty good job.
Obviously it doesn’t always work this way, don’t worry, we have our fair share of blow-outs and meltdowns (that’s another article altogether). What is important to me is that those days are fewer than our good ones.
Some days you just need to say “Fuck it” to the world and do what makes you happy.
On that charming note, I shall, for now, bid you adieu. For some reason I feel like snuggling up in bed with G while she falls asleep.
Peace, love and mungbeans to you all ✌