My Favorite Me-time Indulgence | Top 5 Free Time Ideas (Step by Step)

Are we talking about me-time indulgence? 

Well, I think that as busy moms and dads that word does not exist in our lives. We have time for everybody and everything else in our lives except us which is a sad truth.

This was what that had been going on in my life for years until I realized that I need to put a stop for my own mental health and happiness as well as my family.

I had learned that If I am not happy and I am constantly under stress and pressure, I will not be able to give my 100% to my kids and family. That is why I decided to pick up 5 free time ideas that had really made huge positive differences in my life.

Before I start talking about 5 me-time indulgence and free time ideas I need to clarify why it is extremely important to have your own special me-time during any part of the day.

5 reasons why 'me-time' indulgence is a necessity

Why Me-time Indulgence is Necessary?

#1. Realize that you deserve your Me-time

This is a big problem for most of the Moms and Dads. We do not realize that we deserve our free time enough to recharge and re-invent ourselves. Serving family and kids becomes our sole existence.

I had been living for everyone in my family except myself. Over a period of time, I realized that I had lost myself, my identity is lost being a mom and someone else’s wife. I started depending on others for giving me the mental and emotional boost of love, appreciation, and thankfulness.

When you start depending on others to make you happy and constantly seek acceptance and approval, you actually kill your self-confidence and your own identity.

Me-time for your self is a must for every individual. It gives you the space to explore yourself and indulge in activities that you enjoy the most. It is only when you are composed, content, and happy from within that you can give your best to your spouse and children. Me-time gives you that chance.

#2. Me time indulge does not make you selfish

When you actually dedicate a particular time slot for your own self it is not being self-fish and mean. It actually means you are intelligent and caring enough to ensure that your family gets the best from you that they deserve.

Me-time indulges actually restarts and energizes you giving you more positive energy that you ultimately spread across your environment. If you are working and you are happy and energetic, the positive energy gets spread across your workplace and your work environment becomes healthier and positive. If you are a stay at home mom like me, you spread the positive energy inside your home making it the most blissful haven for you and your family.

#3. You need to be happy first to bring happiness to your family

Happiness is something that is contagious. If you are happy from within you automatically spread across that happiness and tranquility within your ambit of environment that you dwell.

Be happy yourself before you plan to bring happiness to others

An unhappy and stressed out but good parents can never have happy and successful children. This is a true fact. No matter how concerns and dedicated parent you are, if you are not happy from within you cannot have a happy family.

#4. You need to put your personal life and marriage first to raise happy kids

One new book that has become one of the best sellers in the U.S says that devoted parents do not necessarily bring up happy children. According to the author David Code, if we want to raise happy kids we need to put our marriage first.

I absolutely agree with this ideology of putting your personal life be it your marriage and your relationship first before our own kids. Although it may sound a little selfish, in reality, it is actually being more responsible and caring for your family and children.

Put your marriage first to raise happy kids

You must be wondering how putting your personal life first before kids become so philanthropic which apparently seems very mean and selfish?

What I can say is that a bad relationship or broken unstable marriage does an unthinkable amount of harm to children who undergo a tremendous mental and emotional crises.

If you have a healthy and fulfilling relationship with your partner and there is most importantly peace and passion in your life, you would invariably be happier and content in your life. In that case, your sense of content and happiness that you enjoy in your relationship would bring stability, bliss, and tranquility in your family life. Kids who find their parents more loving feels more secure and comfortable within the family. Therefore, dedicating my time for yourself and your spouse is another thing that should never be compromised.

#5. Turn from Kids centered life to God-centered life

For most of us once we have kids our entire life takes a complete turn. We become kids centered. Our kids are of course happy with all that pampering that we do and we become happy to see them happy.

That being said you might ask then where is the problem if everyone is happy at the end of the day?

The thing is that as we overdo things for our kids turning them like demi-gods worshiping them in fact rather than training them to survive in this practical real-world we end up doing more harm to them than good.

Everything in life is not always happy and green flushed with happiness and abundance. There could be a time when life throws some of the worst challenges. 

How will you train your kids to sustain the pressure and shock of the outside world?

Does sacrificing your me-time or free time give your kids a secure and healthy future?

Absolutely not. What we need to do instead is to make our home and our life God-centred. It would teach them selflessness rather than being selfish. It would teach you to love yourself and your family. It would bring peace of mind and the feeling that God is watching over us and wants us to do our best in this life.

Turn from Kids centered life to God-centered life

I am not a very religious person but I believe that God does exist. When you have God-loving and God-fearing environment in your house, your kids would also learn proper manners and discipline in their lives. They would learn to respect the privacy of parents and value your free time with an open heart and mind. This learning from home would transcend and make them have a blissful family in the future.

Now that we have understood the importance of me-time, let me share with you my top 5 free time ideas.

My top 5 free time ideas - Step by Step

As soon as my kids leave for school and my husband leaves for work I feel I have accomplished a herculean task getting them ready, making their breakfast, packing their lunch boxes and so on constantly juggling between one work to another. Multi-tasking is a survival strategy.

So once the house is empty it is a big relief and I start to indulge in my special me-time to treat myself with my top 5 free time ideas.

Top 5 free time ideas (Step by Step)

#1. Self Care

This is my number 1 free time activity which I never like to compromise on. Yes, it is Self-care. The first thing I do in the morning after of course the as usual morning madness and rush gets over is to get a cup top hot tea (preferably with ginger) or strong coffee to give me that morning boost to kick-start the day.

I prefer to read something while sipping the hot drink inside my throat that gives a that to my brains as well. It could be a newspaper or an article in a blog or a book that I am reading currently.

A cup of hot tea is perfect to start my day

The next thing is following my daily CTM (Cleansing Toning Moisturizing) regimen that I never fail to miss.

Read the article: 3 Basic Steps For My Everyday Skin Care Routine for tips

Post skincare I try to comb my hair neatly and get ready for my morning workout. I believe that a healthy body is very important for a healthy mind and life altogether. I start with some basic Yoga and breathing technique and from there I slowly take further to some initial warm-up and then to hardcore cardio exercise. I ensure that I have some nice music to give me that enthusiasm and motivation to stretch myself further a bit in exercising.

Self-care is a necessity

After the firmness exercise, I use my tiger work out a machine that works wonders on my body to keep me overall fit and strong.

Burn out fat to get that extra energy!

My ab rocker twister helps me to get rid of the stomach flab that I had developed post-delivery of my third son. Once my body is ready and fits I follow the next step which is relaxation.

#2. Relax

 Relaxing your mind and bossy is very important. For a scatterbrain that I am, I feel it extremely difficult to keep a blank mind sometime. It becomes really difficult for me to relax and have empty thoughts in my mind.

For complete relaxation, it is important that you keep your surroundings clean and tidy. I ensure I do the basic cleaning daily before I plan to indulge in my me-time hours. I also ensure ventilate the rooms completely use good scented candles or room spray later on.

Music is relaxing for me!

After this, I play some nice melodious music and close my eyes and lie down for a while. To make it more effective I try to pull down the curtain and put some damp cot tom pads dipped in rose water.

I keep my phone handy and set my alarm for 45 min to 1 hour in case I doze off and fail to execute my other commitments.

#3. Entertainment

The third free time idea is, of course, nothing but entertainment. For me, entertainment is very important to remain positive, cheerful, and happy. Being entertained is a basic necessity for every human being to remain relaxed and tension free.

My favorite entertainment is dancing with the music. I simply play on a nice dance track and end up swinging with my swag dancing like a teenager worry-free and carefree. Dancing helps me to energize myself and remain active and fit.

I love to dance and transform my living room into a Disco!

The next entertainment idea for me is watching my favorite serial online. Sometimes you need to watch some dramas to know more about different lives and lifestyles. I like to watch a drama that is reality-based and focused on social issues.

Painting and drawing cartoons and sketches are the next hobby that keeps me more creative and imaginative. Sometimes, I simply do some graphics thanks to tools like a canvas which made life so simple.

How about photography? 

A picture is worth 1000 words and I truly believe in the old proverb. I love to save glimpses of beautiful and artful things that I see around. Being a romantic person, I find romance and beauty in almost everything. Even the door can fascinate me thinking someone special is waiting outside the door just for a call!

Photography is my Passion!

Hence photography is another passion that I am interested in and I like to take photographs of my entertainment in my free time.

#4. Contemplate

Post my heavy dose of entertainment I like to take time to contemplate and think about myself and how the day has been going. Writing my diary is my essential tool to contemplate and do some self-discovery.

I love to contemplate in my Free time

The madness of work at home, jobs, commitments, and children around with their usual fights, screams and nags, contemplation, and self-discovery used to be a distant dream.

It was only when I realized how important is my time for self-indulgence is that I had started taking time for myself for contemplation. It is a zone where you can be yourself, become your own critic, mentor, and plan your ways out. I always believe that the best teacher for yourself is no one but You!

#5. Action Plan

The fifth free time idea that comes after the contemplation is formulating action plans. Once we are sure about our own selves, we know actually where we are standing and what we need to achieve. It could be being a great cook or a great motivator or could be a better parent. The choice is yours.

I plan my action after contemplation.

Simply thinking and procrastinating tasks have no fruitful outcomes. What we need to do is to have action plans to execute. Me-time gives me that special time to think over and plan possible actions in order to reach my target or destination.

Also read the article: How to stop your child from procrastinating | 10 tips to overcome procrastination

I have shared my favorite me-time ideas and steps that I personally follow in my life.

What is your Me-time idea? 

I am eager to know…

Do drop in your comments to make a meaningful and successful knowledge-sharing platform.

Cheers,

Happy Parenting!