Five Ways to Find "Me Time"

I'm a list person. And the list of things to do each day is usually enormous.

Page one of my Monday To-Do List.

My lists are not very organized. It's everything mixed together—laundry, date night with Mike, chairing division meeting, picking Ramsey up from school...All my roles jumble together. And honestly that's how my roles work—they all intertwine. I rush from item to item trying to get everything crossed off the list. (And I do cross them off because it feels so good.) There's almost a fluency to flowing between my roles. I work through the list and pretty soon it's late and I haven't taken time to feed my soul.

It is so easy to skip taking care of ourselves. Many of us have grown up from birth with expectations planted by our stay-at-home mothers. Expectations about home-cooked meals, homes that are always spotlessly cleaned, ironing and folding the laundry right out of the dryer, toilets that always sparkle, and (add your own unique expectations you find it hard to accomplish). And if there were only one item on this list it might be realistic, but it usually is a long list that would be a full time job on its own. And it was a full time job for the people who set those expectations and norms long ago.

When we attempt to add that gigantic list of expectations to our role in a full time job outside the home, well, something, or some things, don't get the attention they need. And the first thing to loose priority is "me time."

So what can we working moms do?

Here are five ideas I find helpful:

• Make a list of "me time" ideas. Seriously, sit down right now and brainstorm the things that feed your soul. Is it reading a book, getting a pedicure, going for a walk, crocheting? Tape the list to your bathroom mirror to remind you of the things that feed your soul. It's motivating.

• Build in some kind of accountability for your "me time". Post about it on Facebook every day. Take a picture and chronicle it. Have a friend that you check in with each day and share how you spent your "me time."

• Start your day with "me time." If the first thing you do each morning is take time for yourself, there's no way you'll ever miss it...unless of course you decide to skip it. Don't skip it! Make yourself a priority.

• Add your "me time" to your list. That's right. Decide at the beginning of the day what your "me time" will be and put it on the list. And every time you look at your list you'll be reminded of how you'll feed your soul. I sometimes use it as a reward for doing something on my list that I really don't want to do. And you're more likely to get to it just so you can cross it off the list.

• Make a list of all the reasons you don't take "me time." Now burn the list. Because those excuses are not good enough. Taking "me time" helps everyone in your life. Once you love yourself enough to take time for yourself, then you are more capable to love your family, do your job well, create the environment in which you and your family and coworkers can thrive. Feeding your soul is actually a way of being generous to others. Everything is better when you take "me time."