In her last Single Parent Support newsletter, Kat asked you for ideas of how you treat yourselves when you get a moment off.
Here are some of your responses – maybe they will inspire you with a way you can pat yourself on the back once your kids are in bed or back at school!
- I go to my room and read whilst my son is in bed (hopefully) falling asleep. I love reading and at night it helps me sometimes to escape my everyday life for a bit.
- Getting outside for a mindful walk helps me to have time out just for me – just enjoying all the sounds and colours that Mother Nature has to nurture us.
- I like to go for a daily 30 minute non-dog walk.
- I relax a lot by listening to a podcast and crocheting which I find satisfyingly creative.
- Every Friday morning I go to a local church coffee morning to have a chat, connect and read the newspapers and the local community magazines.
- Sewing class! I meet 3 lovely ladies on a Wednesday morning and we sew together – quilts, bunting, baby mats, clothes, wall hangings, Christmas or Easter decorations, cushions – you name it we sew it. We laugh, we chat, we drink coffee and celebrate all life’s little moments; it’s the best de-stressor of my week – I love it!
- I walk my dog while listening to podcasts or music.
- My favourite thing is sewing by hand. I find it therapeutic, making little stitches and creating pretty or useful things out of fibres and thread. It took me a while to get good at it, but I now have quilts, bags and clothes that I’ve made (and mended), so I am surrounded by things I’ve seen, which serves as a nice reminder of who I am and what I can achieve, if I am having a difficult day.
- I go to my allotment. It’s 250 square metres and when my husband died 4 years ago we’d cleared about a third of it. It’s been hard work but after three years of digging up rubbish and weeds I finally cleared it. It was my “grief therapy” but is now definitely the place I go to for “me time”.
- I go to the gym and have a nice long swim.
- l like to get out into nature to a waterfall or the woods or a walk by a river as l live close to the Dales.
- I love to listen to the local radio in the evenings. I found this by mistake soon after I separated. I have found getting to know the regular callers on the ‘phone in’ a great form of companionship during the evenings where I’d otherwise not have any adult company!
- To recharge I go for a long walk with the dog in the countryside.
- I run on the treadmill and do weights as this makes me feel good about myself and happier, and happy mammy = happy children. Also I volunteer at a local charity shop to give something back to the community and I thrive off it, I love it serving and helping people from all walks of life!
- I try to get as much vitamin C as I possibly can.
- My naughty secret to recharge my batteries is to go to the cinema, by myself, sit in the back corner, with a hefty chocolate supply… and either laugh or cry by myself (film depending!) for a couple of hours…. it is my escape from the world. It works!
- I treat myself to a chai latte with toast and jam.
- I have a hot bubble bath, then watch a film or read a book.
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