Good tips. Now that I’m retired & an empty nester, I wish I’d learned to say no years sooner than I did. I’ve been great about saying it in my retirement! I promised myself when I retired that I’d not commit to ANYTHING for a year. So far, I’ve maintained that practice for over a decade. 😀 it’s MY time after years of spreading myself thin & people pleasing. And routines definitely make a difference. I don’t allow myself to stray into doing other unplanned things accidentally.
I totally understand the need for “me time”. I desperately craved that when my kids were young. But I realized that having kids (which is a choice) means abandoning almost all aspects of your former life. It means having very little me time, it means saying no to almost everything outside the home, it means losing contact with old friends. It means building an entirely new life from the ground up. It’s only after your kids are grown that you can create the life you want for yourself. Having said all of this, I don’t regret a single thing about having kids.
that's an interesting view. I've never seen it like that. i am a mother of 2 girls. (10/12 years) i have always seen it as adding the children into my life and expanding my life. i have always lived my life and not the mother life of my children. since i was unfortunately unable to breastfeed my children because of my medication, my husband took on this task from the start and i trusted him completely. so that i took my free time as i needed it. i went to the cinema, went out to eat with friends, went to the swimming pool alone or to a cafe or read a book in the park if i wanted to. I continued to live my life as Julia. but with adorable children. I personally can't understand how some people lose their identity completely when they are born and only live as a mother. but mostly these women are happy with it and that alone counts. but I personally can't understand it.
Oh my goodness Yeeesss! Rest! I’ve been living in the state of exhaustion with exclusively pumping , caring for our baby, working full time, and trying to meal plan and keep us functioning. Last week I reached the point of turning the tide and prioritizing rest daily!
Oh my word - YES. Routines make life so much calmer. It took me a looooong time to realize that there is freedom in having routines. I love knowing that Laundry is done on X day, and sheets are washed on X day, meals are planned, and shopped for on X day. All of that frees up my time to work on things I *want* to do. Also, love having breakfast for dinner! Fortunately (unfortunately?) my husband works from home and often makes an omelette for lunch which means I don't get to do breakfast for dinner as much as I'd like. Really enjoy your content, Nikki! Great job! :)
Love this! Makes me feel like I’m not so far behind on things. While I don’t have quality routines built yet I have been doing really well at saying guilt free nos!
Good tips. Now that I’m retired & an empty nester, I wish I’d learned to say no years sooner than I did. I’ve been great about saying it in my retirement! I promised myself when I retired that I’d not commit to ANYTHING for a year. So far, I’ve maintained that practice for over a decade. 😀 it’s MY time after years of spreading myself thin & people pleasing. And routines definitely make a difference. I don’t allow myself to stray into doing other unplanned things accidentally.
We do breakfast for dinner one night a week too. Ours is on Wednesday nights because we have church and it works out to be the perfect night for it.
I totally understand the need for “me time”. I desperately craved that when my kids were young. But I realized that having kids (which is a choice) means abandoning almost all aspects of your former life. It means having very little me time, it means saying no to almost everything outside the home, it means losing contact with old friends. It means building an entirely new life from the ground up. It’s only after your kids are grown that you can create the life you want for yourself. Having said all of this, I don’t regret a single thing about having kids.
that's an interesting view. I've never seen it like that. i am a mother of 2 girls. (10/12 years) i have always seen it as adding the children into my life and expanding my life. i have always lived my life and not the mother life of my children. since i was unfortunately unable to breastfeed my children because of my medication, my husband took on this task from the start and i trusted him completely. so that i took my free time as i needed it. i went to the cinema, went out to eat with friends, went to the swimming pool alone or to a cafe or read a book in the park if i wanted to. I continued to live my life as Julia. but with adorable children. I personally can't understand how some people lose their identity completely when they are born and only live as a mother. but mostly these women are happy with it and that alone counts. but I personally can't understand it.
Love the idea of daily themes but struggle with how to put it into practice. Sounds silly but it’s true.
Oh my goodness Yeeesss! Rest! I’ve been living in the state of exhaustion with exclusively pumping , caring for our baby, working full time, and trying to meal plan and keep us functioning. Last week I reached the point of turning the tide and prioritizing rest daily!
Yes, prioritize that rest!
I just started a laundry routine and I love it, too! :)
The best!
I hope you being in the HQ thingy gets you more subscribers. I love your content.
Thank you! ❤️
Oh my word - YES. Routines make life so much calmer. It took me a looooong time to realize that there is freedom in having routines. I love knowing that Laundry is done on X day, and sheets are washed on X day, meals are planned, and shopped for on X day. All of that frees up my time to work on things I *want* to do. Also, love having breakfast for dinner! Fortunately (unfortunately?) my husband works from home and often makes an omelette for lunch which means I don't get to do breakfast for dinner as much as I'd like.
Really enjoy your content, Nikki! Great job! :)
Thank you
Love this! Makes me feel like I’m not so far behind on things. While I don’t have quality routines built yet I have been doing really well at saying guilt free nos!