So what does a hyperactive do when faced with burn out?
I know that the traditional route of taking an absolute holiday won’t fix it for me. In fact it will most probably frustrate me. That said, I asked a blogger friend of mine what she thought and her reply was very wise. Now I’m not. Wise that is. So anybody throwing a bit of wisdom my way is, understandably, greatly appreciated. This wise blogger said to me to take the summer off, as it is better to rest a sprained ankle than to keep using it and do permanent damage.
So how does one take a break without taking a break? How does one rest an ankle? By taking the pressure off. In this case the weight of the body. In my case I am burnt out from home-schooling. I know this because for the first time ever I don’t want to do it, think about it or buy resources for it. Nada. I want nothing to do with it. Okay, maybe I should have taken a break before this, to stop it from going this far. But that wasn’t a possibility. We’ve gone through a tough year with the cancer and a baby who cried day and night for two years. It has only been a few weeks since B2 has slept through and stopped her incessant crying. Up until then we had as a family pulled together and just got through the days and the nights best we could. Now things have calmed and we all feel exhausted.
However, I know I would go stark raving mad if I had to rest up. No, I need (and I do believe it is a need) something to get my teeth into. But not home schooling. Not at the moment. So as I stated in a previous post, in 7 weeks time when all our planned school work is completed I am taking a two month break from everything related to school. During this 7 weeks I refuse to give anything less than my best, which is exactly what my children deserve, exhausted or not.
So what does this girl do when faced with burn out? Get myself a new project, that’s what! And it is this project that has got me (and Gary, to a lesser extent – he’s not losing sleep over it!) excited. Because of the cancer, Gary and I took the decision at the beginning of the year to pay off our mortgage in 5 years time. This means we hope to have it paid off by Christmas 2017. We will then be completely debt free. Already we have cut back and more than doubled our payments, but I think we could be doing more. And if we did more, I think we might, possibly be able to pay it back sooner, maybe even by the time Gary turns 40. So we’re setting goals and working out things we can cut down on and cut out. I’m certain there is wiggle room in our budget. And that is my project- project wiggle room! Oh the fun! I am very excited, some might say hyperactively so!
What has me even more enthusiastic (if that is at all possible) is that we have included the whole family. It is our family project and the children have completely done us proud by their reaction. They have come up with loads of ideas and are very willing to forego many things (some essentials-we’re not buying any clothes for the next 8 months and maybe beyond). They have come up with many ideas to save money and many ideas to make money. My heart is warm and bubbling over. I will be sharing each weekend and any encouragement you can give will be gratefully received!!