“If You Give a Mouse a Cookie”

The children’s book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Numeroff is how I used to describe my life! Do not get me wrong, I still have a few days like this! I wake up early on Saturday mornings to try and have a little quiet time without hearing, “Mom, will you play with me?” or “Mom, can we go somewhere?” I get out of bed, brush my teeth, and head to the kitchen for my cup of coffee. I am going to relax on the couch, watch the morning news, fold laundry, and enjoy my own time. But, hold up. The dishes on the counter are dry, so I need to put them away. After clearing the counter, I have to clean and sanitize it! Okay, now let me hurry and go drink my coffee. Hold on, I need to put Sasha’s, our cat, food up so Bella, our French Mastiff, will not sneak and eat her food. Why she likes the cat’s food over her own food is something that I still scratch my head over. Now, I need to put Bella outside for awhile. Hold on, she needs fresh water. Back into the kitchen and fill her bowl of water and put it outside for her. Hurry, go drink my coffee. Oh no. Here comes Sasha down the stairs and she meows until I put her food back down. Now is my chance… hurry! I need to drink my coffee, yes, I need to drink it! I finally sit down on the couch and turn on the news. Yeeeess! Exhale! This feels amaz… “Morning Mom.” The quiet time is now over.

When I reflect on my mornings, I see my missed opportunities. I should have left those dishes on the counter, so I could drink my coffee and enjoy some quiet. I feel so much better when I have some time to process my week in my mind, prepare for my day, and just have quiet. How do I manage this?

During the pandemic, I invested in myself. I was tired of being tired and feeling overwhelmed. One of the first things that I learned was to eliminate distractions in my daily life. This meant that I had to learn to put my phone down! I went through my emails and unsubscribed to companies that sent emails that I never opened. I turned off notifications that would make me reach for my phone and look at it. I intentionally put my phone down when it was time to play or cook with my daughter. She loved this! I realized how unfair it was to her that I was always texting, emailing, etc. I learned to spend quality time with her. We would schedule a time and she knew what time she had my undivided attention. I must say, it was so nice!

The stay-at-home order forced me to slow down. I learned how important it is to spend quality time and build a stronger relationships with my family. I eliminated distractions. I planned my days the night before. I kept an ongoing list of everything I wanted to accomplish. I prioritized and stayed focused. I learned that time blocking and batching my work would allow me to get more done and still have time to spend with my family. I learned how to make time for me to wake up on Saturday morning and enjoy my cup of coffee.