3 Ways to "Go Back to School" Differently
Posted on September 2, 2009 12:00:00am, by Gerrianne Clare
As the children head back to school after a long summer off many parents welcome the change. However, with this change comes the need to get back into the routine. There are dance classes, hockey practices, piano lessons, as well as the need for time for homework, getting to bed earlier, making healthy lunches, healthy dinners, and somehow in the midst of everything creating some quality family time.To top it all off, our work environments also pick up speed in September. Most people are back to work after summer vacation and the workplace hums with new ideas, projects, additional workload and other things. Are you ready for the change? How do you want this school year to be for your children? How do you want this time to be for you? Creating the balance you want can be challenging. All of these demands can lead to stress on the family, on you and your relationships.
With every challenge comes opportunity. What is the opportunity for you this fall? You may decide that you want to insure you get some exercise, get to the gym or take a yoga class. Perhaps you have committed to setting aside time each week to insure you take care of yourself. Unfortunately what happens with many people they set the intention to do this and when the time comes to “do it”, their plans fall through. So what I want to offer you are 3 strategies to help you succeed at what you want to have happen this fall.
1) Take some time to yourself before things get busy. Spend some time in reflection and tell yourself the truth to the following 3 questions:
a) Am I looking forward to the coming year with excitement or fear?
b) Am I being realistic as to the demands being placed on me and my family?
c) What systems do I want to put in place to support me and my family this next year? It is amazing how many moms look at the return to school as a welcome change to routine, but fear how they are going to fit everything in. With so many rules and expectations on what they “should” be doing, their harshest critic is often themselves.
2) Set the intention for the next 4 months?
Without being Supermom, what do you want this next 4 months to be like?
a) What do you want it to FEEL like?
Identify the words that speak to what you want e.g. relaxed, active, healthy, fun, focused, clear, exciting, quality family time, balanced, everyone’s needs met. It is only through being clear on what you want that can you know if you have achieved it. Remember to always check in with yourself about how it feels as you are doing this? Are you nervous or anxious about how you are going to get it all done, are you being realistic of the demands you are putting on yourself and your children.
b) What do you want it to LOOK like? Be clear that this is your vision of what you want; not someone else’s?
Create a vision in your mind about what you would ideally like to see happen?
Visualize how you look as you drive the kids to school and their various activities? Face relaxed, smiling, chatting with the kids, visualize yourself exercising, at the gym or at the yoga class (this is just an example, identify for yourself what you really want the fall to look like). Visualize meal time, homework and bedtime? What do you want these to look like?
Once you are clear about what you want, write it down. Speak in the present tense as if it is happening NOW. For example: I am driving Sally to her dance class, we are chatting and laughing in the car as we share stories of our day. I am following the speed limit, I have a smile on my face, my shoulders are relaxed and I am paying attention to my driving. Find some pictures of you or some illustrations in magazines of what you want this to look like, put them on a poster board and display this poster board in a place where you will see it everyday.
c) Imagine what it will sound like!! What will you be hearing people say about you? What will your children be saying? What will you say to yourself? Examples of this include: “Mommy, thanks for helping me with my homework, it really helped” “Homework and bedtime were so relaxed and fun tonight, I want to do more of this.” Put some of these words on your vision board as well.
3) Read this Vision every day as you set your intention for the day! With the previous steps you have insured you have told yourself the truth about what it is you really want for the next 4 months. You have created a clear intention of what it will feel like, look like and sound like. You have it written down and you have a picture of what you want. Now your job is to read it and set your intention for the day.
Remember, if there are things about yesterday that did not go well, that was yesterday. The only thing you have control over is today and this moment in time.
Changing our way of doing things takes time, energy and patience. We need to start small. If you just take one piece from this blog, it is to take time to yourself. Ask: “What do I want” and tell yourself the truth.
If you do just that, you are developing awareness of what you want, with that clarity the “how to get there will show up”.
Take care all and I will blog with you soon.
Gerrianne
