I cannot take a break.
Now I am a mother of 3 kids – 4 year-old-daughter, 2 year-old-son and 5 month old daughter. I blog full time and volunteer at my church and in my community.
I cannot take a break.
And now, with the internet I really can’t take a break. It is there, 24/7. Tasks needing accomplished, tweets, posts, comments, photos! Constant – yet enjoyable. Working is how I have defined my success my entire life. Taking a break was for the lazy. The busier I was the happier I was and, in my eyes, successful.
But with such young children, if I do not take a break more often, I will miss important things. Very important things. Just the other day, my internet broke. I was without the ability to get online (save for my email on my phone) all day.
I played with my kids. I always play with them. But with the computer off, I really played. My 4 year old and I worked on her letters and numbers literally all day long. My 2 year old and I did sword fights and the baby was just cute.
Now that the internet is back on, I am taking more breaks. I can still be successful, I just have to take more and longer breaks. I am learning how to manage my time better and spend quality time with my children while they are awake.
I still work very hard at my blog. But now, I focus on them better. Focus, like the 50mm lens of a DSLR, blurring out the peripheral. I hone in on them, their grins, their minds expanding. Amazing what I miss when I am right here.
About the Author:
Annie works full time on her Kansas Blog MamaDweeb.com. She lives in Kansas with her 3 kids and loving husband. You can find her on twitter @MamaDweeb, she loves to chat about all things parenting and life!
You’re right. Internet can be so distracting, and easily accessible that it is easy to lose track of how much time we give it. And at the same time it can be hard to feel “successful” without a productive outlet outside the home. As I sit here expecting #4 and have not had a physical paycheck in 5 yrs, I have thought about that a lot lately.
Thanks for the reminder, sometimes it pays to unplug and take it slow.
Wish I could blog full time – I used to be a professional blogger, and I was lucky that it left me plenty of time for the Babby. Now I’m in an office, and there’s downtime, but I’m not with her. Just here.
@Andie ~ You are right about the internet being a productive outlet. It feels so good to get so much done on my blog and get a paycheck from it. But yes, time with computer off is quite rewarding too.
Yes, sometimes breaks like that turn out to be the best blessing in disguise. That balance is so hard to find.
Yup! I totally agree! We have to stop and pause. Great post. 🙂
This is really a great reminder to shut the computer off sometimes!
Annie, this goes so hand in hand with my blog post today. I’m glad you’ve got it figured out! 🙂
An important message!! I think most parents need to *un-plug* more often!
I appreciate the analogy of focusing like a 50mm lens. “Blurring out the peripheral” – I need to do a better job of that. Thanks! 🙂