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Time Out for Busy Mums

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Being a mum is a 24-hour around-the-clock job - you work overtime, weekends, holidays, and are on call every single night. It's a pace that will lead to burnout unless you take time just for yourself. Don't feel guilty for taking time for yourself. It's the only healthy way to work at your optimum level the rest of the time. Pampering yourself once in a while will make you better at your job!

Decide first what your need is. Do you need to leave the house to feel relaxed or do you need everyone else to leave so that you have alone time there? Enlist the aid of your husband or a reliable sitter and indulge yourself for an afternoon doing exactly what you want to do. This does not include laundry or mental list-making!

If you choose to stay home, consider spending it in your own private spa. Surround yourself with flickering candles, bubble bath or scented bath oils, soothing music, perhaps a bon bon or two, and a good book. Take as long as you want. When it's time to pull the plug, step into a huge fluffy bathrobe and soft fuzzy slippers. Get comfortable and dial up a faraway family member or friend and visit with them at your leisure, uninterrupted by the wants and needs of others.

Do you want to escape your familiar four walls for a while? You might go to a movie and indulge in popcorn and soft drink. Or you might enjoy sitting for a while in a bookstore, reading over a cookbook or novel you've heard wonderful things about. Take a slow stroll in a nearby park (but avoid swings and slides!) Get a massage, a facial, or go for a manicure and pedicure.

The most important thing is that you do what YOU want to do. You spend so many hours of your day answering the needs of others. This is your time. Spend it however you like, but do it consistently, and you will return to your family refreshed and ready for the challenges that await you.

By Rachel Goodchild