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Parenting

21st Aug 2022

“Allow yourself a break from time to time, you deserve it” — As busy mums, we know this to be true

Melissa Carton

Ain’t this the truth?

People often think that I rush home from work and turn down after work events because I can’t get a child minder.

Sometimes this is the case but, most of the time, I rush home simply so I can have a small amount of time to myself.

Time to take a long shower. Time to watch my favourite show. Time to cook a decent meal. Just time.

I know I’m not the only mum suffering from a lack of time and that’s why when I read an article about a lack of time being a woman’s greatest enemy I couldn’t help but agree.

I remember reading a piece that Brigid Schulte wrote in which she spoke about how woman try to take and everything and leave very little time left over for themselves.

In the article published in The Guardian she wrote how men general have more time to spend on themselves than women do;

“Their wives protected them from interruptions; their housekeepers and maids brought them breakfast and coffee at odd hours; their nannies kept their children out of their hair.”

I know that in this day and age most dads pick up the slack around the house but there just seems to be something within us as women and mothers that convinces us that if we’re not doing it all we’re not doing it right.

The cold hard reality is we can’t do it all and keep our sanity. We need down time. We need time to ourselves.

Even if it’s just to take a bubble bath or relax in front of a film we need that little bit of time to replenish us and get us ready for the next day.

So the next time you’re rushed off your feet just take a step back from it all. That email you just have to sent can wait. The dishes can wait. Whatever it is, if it isn’t crucial, it can wait. Your mental health on the other hand can not.

Allow yourself a break from time to time, you deserve it.