My daughter had a fever over the weekend. The fever was gone by yesterday morning, but school policy requires children to be fever-free for 24 hours before returning. So when she still had a fever Sunday afternoon, I started making arrangements to take the next day off from work.
I have to admit that I was kind of happy. I was due for a mental health day, and Little C’s low-grade fever was my free pass for a no-guilt day at home. Oh, the things I would do with a whole day off!
But the day didn’t exactly turn out like I had planned, and before I knew it, the day was over. One minute I was telling Little C that we had 4 hours before picking her brother up at the bus stop, and the next minute, my son was throwing his backpack in my car. I don’t think I did a single thing I planned to do. And then poof, my mental health day was over.
My mom called late in the afternoon to check in, and she asked if I had done everything I had hoped to do. When I told her I didn’t and she asked why not, all I could say was, “I have absolutely no idea.” And when I thought back on my day, I realized that if I ever quit my job and had complete days of limitless time to play with, I would no doubt fall into some very bad habits. Habits like these…
Top 10 Bad Habits I Would Adopt If Every Day Was a Mental Health Day
10) I would allow my children to watch way too much television and play way too many video games. When you have all the time in the world, it’s so easy to say, “Ok, honey just one more show but that’s it. I mean it this time.”
9) I would never get dressed again. Why bother when I can lounge around all day wearing sweatpants with my hair in a ponytail and no make up?
8) I wouldn’t run any errands. Well, I can’t exactly go to the bank or the grocery store in my sweatpants with no make up, can I?
7) I would get sucked into daytime television. It didn’t happen yesterday, but I was very tempted to check in and see how Dr. Phil and Ellen were doing. A few more days at home, and I wouldn’t have been able to resist the temptation of the remote control.
6) I would crawl into bed in the middle of the day to read a book. A nap may or may not be involved.
5) I would call a bunch of friends to chit chat and wonder why they didn’t have time to talk to me.
4) I would start all sorts of projects and then not finish them. Yesterday I started 3 blog posts and finished zero. I also tackled the kids’ seasonal wardrobes to determine what clothes they need for spring and to toss clothes that no longer fit. However, intead of packing up the outgrown clothes and mailing them to my niece, I stacked them in a huge pile in my guest room (along with the laundry I failed to put away).
3) I would never clean my house, bathe my dog, or re-organize my kitchen cabinets. Well, maybe eventually. But I sure didn’t yesterday.
2) I would eat all. day. long. And did you know that food does not magically appear even if you peek inside your refrigerator every 10 minutes?
1) I would check Facebook, Pinterest, email, Twitter, my blog stats, and text messages 512 times a day.
Lessons Learned:
I’m like a kid who needs structure.
Free play is not my thing.
I actually get more done when I have less time.
Twitter is stupid.
What bad habits would you adopt if you had a day off every day?
I am home every day, and I do have some of those bad habits. I let my daughter watch too much Mickey some days. I have my to do lists for the days, but I seem to only accomplish one task a day. I really need to learn to structure my day.
Oh my gosh. You just described my life. lol Minus the tv. With homeschooling the kids we're home all day long. We just moved here in June and since there have been many days where my husband comes home and finds me in the pj's I was wearing that morning. And I have a pile of clothes (on hangers mind you) on our couch that I need to hang up. This has just happened since we moved here and I don't know anyone. It's a bad habit!
I have to have structure too. Not getting up and having a purpose and plan bothers me. As a teacher I always look forward to summers off but then a couple weeks in I am going stir crazy!
I'm a SAHM… some people THINK I have every day off! 🙂 But I find what you said about where the day goes to be true. Between getting two preschoolers ready for the day, and fighting with them about food and clothes and just about everything else under the sun, and getting at least SOME of my chores and errands done, the day's totally gone and I have no idea what I actually accomplished.
When I have a day to myself (as in, a real day off with zero responsibility), I find that I also slack on what I should do and do what I want to do.
Well said! You perfectly described me, too. There have been stretches when I was jobless or between semesters at school and had grand plans for what I could accomlish with ALL this free time. Yeah right! Like you, I actually get more done when my schedule is busier. Plus, when I work, I feel like I'm accomplishing more too. I am not cut out to be a SAHM, but admire anyone who can impose the self-discipline to do it well.
LOVE the new look!
Oh my, I'd probably sleep until noon every day and then stay in my pjs until bedtime. I don't think anything would ever get done, even though I'm constantly saying, "If I just had more days off I'd get SO much accomplished!" Yeah right… Even though I don't like to admit it, I need structure too!