What you do in your daily life: Your ideal week as an ERE

[Biscuits and Gravy]

I’ll go. I live two lives: one with two small kids, one without two small kids (I’m divorced and share custody).

NO KIDS
[wake up naturally]
6 or 7 Coffee, Putter
8-10 Chores/To-Do List
10-12 Read to Learn (the dense stuff)
12-13 Study Finnish
13-15 Exercise & Ablutions
15-17 Read for funsies or write
Post 17 Hang out with hubs and relax

KIDS
[spend the night being woken up multiple times by asthma, allergies, vomiting, bed wetting, whines for cuddles, hearing the kids get up to use the bathroom etc etc]
5:30 Alarm goes off
6 try to drink my coffee in peace but son is already up and on me
6:20 Start making breakfast and packing lunches and snacks
6:30 Try to wake up daughter
6:35 Fed son, he’s already asking for seconds
6:40 Try to wake up daughter
6:45 Refill water bottles, remove all of the random shit from my kids’ backpacks, tuck in nicely prepared snacks and lunches
6:50 GET UP GET UP GET UP DAUGHTER
6:51 Daughter rolls out into the front room in her PJs asking to watch TV, hell no, go get dressed
6:51-7:10 Blur of brushing hair, ordering kids to put shoes on, last scramble for jackets, “oh shit that’s right it’s picture day!”, son wants milk
7:10-15 Get kids and backpacks in car, “no, for the one millionth time, you can’t take a toy to school,” drive them to school, damn school bus has it’s stop sign out, of course we hit the red light
7:16 Park car, pluck lallygagging kids out of car, walk them to the doors, remember when my son used to ask for kissing hands, get teary-eyed
7:25 Back home, finally finish (cold) cup of coffee.
7:30-8 Relax
8-10 Chores (groceries, laundry, dishes, always)
10-12 Read to Learn
12-13 Study Finnish
13-14 Maaaaaybe I have the energy to work out? Should probably just relax because..
14:15 Leave to join car line of parents to pick up kids
14:40 Kids scramble into car and yell to me about their days simultaneously
15:00 Sometimes son has occupational therapy appointment for his ADHD for an hour, sometimes we go home
15:00-16:00 Give kids snacks, entertain kids, enjoy kids
16:00 Start making dinner
16:30 or 17:00 Have a blessed five minutes of everyone sitting around the table eating a home cooked meal. Thank you, ERE.
17:00-18:30 Entertain kids, Enjoy kids
18:30-19:00 Kids’ bath time (alternate days)
19:00-20:00 Story time
20:00 Please, please, please just brush your teeth, why do you make me say it a hundred times, we do this every night! Just brush them! Son wants me to brush his teeth for him.
20:00-20:30 Daughter reads in bed, I read more to son in his bed
20:30-21:00 Cuddle son until he falls asleep (I really enjoy this time)
21:01 Poke head into daughter’s room, tell her I love her and to stop reading. Sometimes she wants cuddles, sometimes she humphs at me, sometimes she’s already asleep.
21:02 Brush my teeth, snuggle hubby in bed, maybe read some or watch an episode or two with hubs while snuggled up against him
21:30 almost definitely passed out
22:05 someone coughs, wakes me up

[thai_tong]

My ideal life would not be a schedule but a collection of activities that are good for purpose and wellbeing.

Habit (and therefore schedule) is ppowerful for creating motivation. Although I think this stems from our society's idea of productivity. There's a lot to say for spontaneously doing things as a source of happiness, and also intuitively doing what feels right in the moment