This new homeschooling season has officially ushered in one of the more busy times of my life.  Between the daily two hours in the car running my youngest son back and forth to his tutoring program, volleyball practice, gymnastics class, bowling league, music lessons, speech therapy, Bible studies, leading our newest connected parenting class, speaking gigs, and homeschool co-op, I am utterly exhausted at the end of every day.  That doesn’t even include the normal living tasks like actually homeschooling my kids at home, cooking, cleaning, and laundry.  I truly have no idea how full-time working moms do it.  I have so much respect for them!

Now, I’m not listing off all of those commitments to elicit pity or compassion.  Quite the opposite, actually.  It’s more like a fist bump of solidarity to all the mamas who are also volunteer taxicab drivers with not enough time to get their stuff done.  It’s funny, I used to pride myself on having a relaxed schedule that wasn’t overbooked with everyone running in opposite directions.  That’s beginning to look different as the kids get older, but I still don’t thrive well with every minute of the day booked.  I’m thinking there are probably plenty of other people who don’t either.

However, this season of life has called me to support my children in each of their (many) endeavors, and I wholeheartedly honor that commitment.  I want them to know how much I value their desires and needs, so I try my very best to get them to all the places.  Likewise, I’ve been finding myself with more opportunities to share about connected parenting, which I resoundingly say yes to every time.  Because connected parenting has transformed our family so positively, it’s always such an honor to share the lifestyle with other families.  In fact, in addition to embarking on another Connect Class, I just had the incredible privilege of sharing a breakout session at a recent kinship caregivers conference.  It was humbling to be in the presence of so many people doing so much to care for children with hard starts. It was also so encouraging to hear the feedback from my session about how people envision the connected parenting philosophy working into so many different communities.  There truly is such a need for authentic, nurturing, life-giving relationships in every facet of life, not just in the adoption and foster communities.

All this to say … I’ve been struggling to work self care into my schedule, but I’m finding it absolutely necessary to take care of myself in order to thrive.  So in this season, self care looks like getting to bed before 10pm (on most nights) so I have enough energy to tackle the next day.  It looks like leaving the weekends as unscheduled as possible so we can breathe and stay in our pj’s all day.  It also looks like carving out 20-30 short minutes every morning to spend quite time with my Father and His word.  It’s the one ritual that I truly crave and desperately need right now.  And I always want more.  It not only helps keep me rooted and grounded, but that sacred time is essential for me to pursue a day of intentionality amidst the busyness.

So when self care seems impossible, I encourage you to make the time for it anyway.  Whatever it is that fills your cup, just do it.  Even if it’s only for 20 minutes.  As the wise Brene Brown says, “It takes courage to say yes to rest and play in a culture where exhaustion is seen as a status symbol.”  Us moms really can’t afford to not take care of ourselves.  After all, we can’t pour from an empty cup.