Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Take Back Your Time

Take Back Your Time Day is October 24th. I've been thinking a lot about time since I found out about the initiative. Of course there is never enough, especially if you are a parent, and more so if you are a working parent. I work full time, so if I am not careful my time slips away quickly and without my noticing--or, even worse, I am even wishing it away (such as "I can't wait for the next break" or "life will be easier when the baby is older"). I never want to wish my time away or rush along and barely notice it. Instead, as a working mother, I need to be very conscious about how I want to spend it and then move away from abstractions ("I want more time with the babies" or for crafting or for celebrating the holidays) to making little choices every day, not only about how I want to spend my time but also how I want to organize myself so I can save time and be less stressed.


The whole "take back your time" movement is very interesting to me. If you visit the website you'll see that they promote family dinner, cooking at home, working less and having less stuff, spending time with our children--all things I believe in. How to apply it to our real life? Well, I don't exactly have the option of working less (I do have a fabulous job that follows the school calendar, though, so I get more than 10 weeks of vacation a year), but I do believe in the importance of setting priorities and sticking to them. For me that means spending more time with my husband and children and just trying to be less stressed overall. (And quite frankly I also want to still have time for this blog and to sew something for myself or my children every once in awhile). How will you spend Take Back Your Time Day?

2 comments:

Gift of Green said...

Hmmm, I think the biggest thing I've done is taken a job that pays much less than I could be earning in exchange for a rather flexible schedule and a seven minute commute.

Mary Beth said...

That is very good. I have a long commute but I'm home every summer and every school vacation and I love that.