Here in my part of Georgia, the kids are starting back to school on Wednesday. Our summer has flown by, partially due to two big trips that ate up half of the time (no complaints, though). This is a milestone year for our family. Both of our kids will be in public schools together for the first time. That’s right, my youngest is a kindergartener!
I have mixed emotions about it. I am excited to have some more non-kid time during the day, but it’s also hard to grasp that my time of having littles at home all day is over. How did my kids get so old?! My oldest is excited to be back in class with her friends again. My youngest is a little sad about no longer being in preschool. I hope he will enjoy elementary school as much as his big sister.
This milestone has led to a number of people asking me the obvious question: What are you going to do now? It is an excellent question. One for which I have not yet formulated an answer. There are many things I could do with my newfound seven hours a day during the week: volunteer at the school, volunteer outside of the school, go to the gym, hang out with friends, complete housework, run errands, have lunch with my husband, spend more time on writing, take a nap, take a walk, take a hike, schedule appointments, read more books.
I definitely plan to increase writing time, which has its own options to consider. Which project do I focus on – the weekly blog, devotional writing, revamping the published book for republication, continued work on the book in progress, try my hand at writing fiction, seek out places to submit articles for publication and then write articles, get serious about reviewing books?
I honestly don’t know how my time will end up divided – probably among many of these things depending on the day and the week. I love a schedule and have been tempted many times to sit down and make a set plan on how to divide my time. However, I know my tendency would be to fill it to capacity and overwhelm myself before I begin.
For right now I will take each day as it comes. For productivity’s sake, I will probably pencil in some writing periods to help establish the discipline. For sanity’s sake, there will need to be some exercise and social time. I have no doubt each day’s time will get spent. In the meantime, I will enter this new phase with patience, grace, anticipation, and gratitude that I have the ability to choose how to spend my days.
When do your kids start school? Do you have plans for your time during school hours? What did you do when all of your kids were in full-time school for the first time? If that hasn’t happened, what are you hoping to be able to do when the time comes?
As I know we’ve talked about this a couple of times over the past weeks, this is my second year in this phase and season of life. I am still wrestling with the opportunities and loved the last line of this that said, ” I will enter this new phase with patience, grace, anticipation, and gratitude that I have the ability to choose how to spend my days.” Yes, yes, yes, and yes!
It’s encouraging to be reminded that I don’t have to figure it all out right away. It sounds like you’re doing the same. Thanks for the kind words!