Teachers started working on July 31st. Students came back to school on August 6th. Five kids in 4 different schools (3 kids in new schools) and one sitter (last year, two different sitters since we had an infant). Back at work full time, two side jobs, side businesses, and taking a 3 credit online class. I’m exhausted…
People wonder how I do it…this is my basic daily schedule. With my two high schoolers in 6am early more seminary (scripture study) my alarm goes off at 5am. After dropping them off I come home, get kids school forms filled out, get my breakfast & lunch ready to go. Then help get the babies and my preschooler ready. My husband takes my preschooler and I take the babies to my wonderful friend.
Hopefully by 7:10 my 4th grader and I head to work/school about 20min away. (My 9yr old decided he wanted to attend my school this year.) My middle schooler gets picked up by another amazing friend and taken to school
After school my three oldest catch the bus or walk home. My preschooler gets picked up by my mom from school. The babies sometimes get dropped off at home to the big kids about 3pm or I pick them and my preschooler up before heading home. I put up with yucky traffic and finally get home about 4-5pm with all the kids. Some days we throw in swim lessons 4:30-6pm. If not, I try to rest a bit and put my feet up but of course the little ones all want my attention. If I had a rough night with baby I have to take a nap before starting dinner or I won’t make it through the rest of the night. After scrambling to get food on the table for whinny hungry babies, kids, & teens, we eat and I check which babies really need a bath that night. Sometimes my husband is home to help with baths but most of the time I’m flying solo. Then I lie down with the three youngest as they fall asleep because many times this is the first time all day I finally get a break. Sometimes I fall asleep with them for the night. Other times I wake up to get more things done like my 2nd job, side business, or homework.
Like most people, my life is busy and nonstop. During my small breaks I would get on my phone to try and blank out my brain. Trying to ignore the stress of all the things that needs to get done. Often time I’m on my phone being unproductive longer than I planned but I’m just soooo tired I really don’t care. With an “I’m exhausted don’t care” attitude my life is full of putting out fires and many things get left undone and I’m not completely satisfied with my crazy life.
During the beginning of October I was invited by my loving leader, our Prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, to do a social media fast.
“I invite you to participate in a 10-day fast from social media and from any other media that bring negative and impure thoughts to your mind. Pray to know which influences to remove during your fast. The effect of your 10-day fast may surprise you.”
With my social media use, I always try to stay positive and REAL as I share my experiences. My goal is to always help others as I share my life as it is. But I also know that I had many other influences like my mindless phone games that were preventing me from being productive and being better.
My teenage children were also challenged with a 7 day social media fast which they failed miserably. YouTube is their main go to activity and they often look like phone zombies, not finishing homework or doing chores. So we decided to do it together.
Before we started we talked about how we can most successfully tackle this challenge. We talked about how if we want to change a habit it is best to replace the habit with something else. My kids decided to work on learning to play more songs on the ukulele and read books.
I too needed to choose activities to do instead of jumping on my phone to numb my brain. These are the things I chose to fill my void
- Read books from my school library so I can share them with students.
- Work on my online homework
- Work on my personal finance homework and my budget
- Read the Book of Mormon and underline everything about my Savior Jesus Christ, as President Nelson also invited me to do.
- Talk more with my kids
- Work on meal planning
- Watch Netflix 😝
- Make to do lists and check it off
My children did pretty good. I loved not seeing phone zombie children. I loved hearing my kids play and sing with their ukuleles. They even taught their younger siblings new songs! There was more laughter and talking amongst our family as we stayed off our phones more. Even though their fast finished, they still spend time on their ukuleles and reading books. They said they too enjoy the ukulele even more now.
For me, at first it was difficult to not reach for my phone when I wanted to block out my crazy life. Gratefully with my huge list of things to do I never had a lack of what to do. I just needed to redirect my attention to better things. It did surprised me that even though I’m not constantly on social media, I did find myself wanting to stop everything to share certain things.
As I stayed away from wasting my time on mindless useless activities, I found myself doing more. Even if I was exhausted! I had more conversations with my children. I accomplished more things on my to do list. I actually had time to read! I found more ways to serve my family and others. The best was that my mind was more open for revelations, new thoughts and ideas to help me and my family. Ultimately I felt happier about who I was and where my life was going.
Honestly I can’t stay away from social media forever because I need it to stay connected and for work and business purposes but I better understand how I can use my time for better activities than the mindless games I would play. I’m grateful for doing the 10 day Social Media Fast that ended up lasting over 3 weeks! If you haven’t tried it yes, I strongly encourage you to do so. Please share your experiences with me when you do! ❤️
Here are two short clips of my kids singing together. Yes, notice the pile of clean laundry on the couch that everyone ignores…
