Give Yourself A Break!

The other day I realized that my overall attitude about my household work has been much better. My everyday tasks are less of a burden, and I haven't been complaining about them nearly as often as I have in the past. When I mentioned this to my husband, he said that he had been noticing the same thing! It wasn't all in my head!

I think that this is due to many factors, but I'm convinced that a HUGE reason is because I have been giving myself "days off." This is something that Sidetracked Home Executives (and the Bible) says is very important.

I've been giving myself Sundays and Thursdays off. This doesn't mean that I don't do the essentials like feed my family, but I don't have to do any extra jobs on those days. In the past, my husband encouraged me to do this, but I always whined and ranted that there was no possible way I could take a day off, because if I take a day off, then on Monday I have extra to do, because no one has washed the dishes, or picked up, and I start the day already behind.

I don't feel like this anymore. I'm pretty sure that since I've been taking days off, I am more productive on the other days. For instance, the other day was my daughter's birthday, so I made a bigger breakfast than normal, baked and decorated a birthday cake, wrapped presents,  AND cleaned my entire fridge, washed the inside of all of the windows, washed all my dishes, homeschooled my children and cleared everything that had accumulated on my countertops throughout the day, among other miscellaneous tasks. I felt like Superwoman!

Then yesterday, when my mom called to see if I could meet her and my sister for lunch, I felt free to say yes, because it was my day off and I knew that the jobs would get done the next day.

There's a reason God made the Sabbath for us. He knows that we need rest, and He supplies us with the strength we need to "catch up" on the other days of the week.

If you're feeling weary, give yourself a break!