I am now the proud owner of 9 hours of all-to-myself time every week. 3 hours, 3 days a week, minus about half an hour for driving each day, so that is an hour and a half lost. Still, that means I have 7.5 hours a week.
- I thought I might join a gym.
- I thought I might start running again.
- I thought I might keep the house clean and the shopping up to date.
- I thought I might organize our belongings and declutter the house.
- I thought I would take all of our files paperless.
- I thought I might go window shopping.
- I thought I might write more.
- I thought I might start selling my rosaries again and open an Etsy store.
- I thought I might take up piano again.
- I thought I might go back to school (which proved too expensive.)
- If I couldn’t go back to school I thought I might just read through a bunch of classics.
- I thought I might check facebook just one more time…
All in 7.5 hours per week. I think I need a reality check.
What I realized on a retreat a few weeks ago is that I have been running on empty – or less than empty, actually going into energy-debt, for years now. I need to learn how to stop and breathe. I need to refill my inner tank so that I can better fill the tanks of my husband and children. I will dabble in many of the above things I listed, but when people ask me what I am going to do with myself now that I have all this time the answer will probably be “Not much.”