A “Do Nothing” Morning
Last weekend, my kids and I had a “do nothing” morning and it was MAGICAL. What do I mean by this exactly? We legit did NOTHING.
My husband was working, it was me and the 2 kiddos. We had a birthday party later that day and I knew I wanted to take it slow. Even on mornings when we have nothing scheduled, I tend to have these hidden agendas in my mind. We should go for a walk or to the library or to the bagel store or to the local playground. All those things are fun and wonderful and I enjoy doing them with my kids. But here is what I know for right now. It is April, we are all feeling the school year wake up and get out of the house fatigue. My son in particular talks about it. We also have my son enrolled in some activities, this seems to pick up for us in the spring. Again, these are all fun things that he and we enjoy BUT they are a withdrawal on our nervous systems. It takes energy and coping skills to get dressed and out the door within a certain time frame. And sometimes you need a morning to not do that, you know what I mean?
As tempted as I was to do something “fun” Saturday morning, I let it flow. We watched a little television, we had a picnic breakfast with a TV show on. (We eat on the floor between the dining room and living room, nothing fancy but my kids love it). We played in the basement. I did insist on going outside for a short bit because it was nice out and I wanted to, but there was no time pressure on it. We went upstairs to get dressed and that took what felt like 12 years, but it didn’t matter! This was actually one of my favorite parts of the morning. I folded and put away some laundry and got the kids dressed without rushing. They got to play and take their time, it felt so different from how getting dressed usually feels. We played outside and then we came in for lunch. AND IT FELT SO, SO GOOD!
It felt good not only for my kids but for me too. Our autonomic nervous system has two branches, sympathetic and parasympathetic (I am oversimplifying). The sympathetic nervous system is our go and do system, it is also our internal panic button. Our parasympathetic nervous system is our rest and digest branch. I find so often for my clients and for myself, it can be hard to shift into parasympathetic. Especially after a day, week or even longer of doing so many things, even fun things. It’s like my autopilot is set to GO, GO, GO and then it becomes hard for me to unwind, hard for me to be “chill”. This can lead planning a alot of weekend activities for no reason. I can struggle to settle in when my family is hanging out or wake up in the middle of the night with racing thoughts.
My kids feel this too, especially on weekdays. I hate when I hear myself saying “hurry up, we are going to be late, mommy is going to be late and get in trouble”. I try to avoid those words, but when I'm running late and my kids have no sense of urgency, I get frustrated. The absolute peace and ease I felt in doing nothing with them, no agenda, was satisfying. We all needed it.
It was a great weekend. I did many things to support my nervous system. This “do nothing” morning was a big part of setting the tone, of shifting my auto pilot from go and do to sit back and enjoy. Not every weekend will allow for a do nothing morning, but I plan to focus on when I can and I hope you will too!
