Have you ever noticed that everything in life has a cycle to it? Your house gets clean only to get dirty and then get clean again. You spend each year accumulating stuff, then you clean out stuff, only to get more stuff again. You work to save money, then find ways to spend money, to focus on saving again. You exercise and lose weight, then put a little back on, then lose it again. And so on….
Well, if you look closely, I’ll bet your weekly routines cycle, also. Here’s what mine looks like:
Sunday night – house tidied, laundry done, ready to start the week. By Wednesday night, the house is wreck, dishes are piling up just like laundry and there are messes in every corner I look. Thursday seems to be my catch up day where I dig out from under the dishes and put away the toys, take a shower and exercise and catch my breath. By Friday night, things are in a good place and I can see the light at the end of the weekly tunnel. I’m excited for the weekend. We spend the weekend out and about and trying to tackle some household things when we can; then it’s back to Sunday night and I’m gearing up for another week. Sound familiar?
I mention this because it’s easy for me to wake up Wednesday morning and feel a little down in the dumps over all that needs to be done, hasn’t been done, or didn’t get finished. If I’m not careful, I am Debbie Downer. Simply realizing that by Thursday night or Friday morning, I’ll have things in a better place keeps me in a good mental state, happy and optimistic about the day ahead. Maybe you have the same challenge. Or maybe your version of my Wednesday morning is at a different point in the week. Nevertheless, if we spend a little mental space realizing that the cycle will reset itself again, maybe we can all save ourselves some mom stress.