Term after Term!

Ever since I started school at the age of 5 I have lived my life in school terms - and it is a long time since I was 5 years old! All of my schooling and part of my university time was spent with a 3 term year - so from the age of 5 my year was broken up in to 3 blocks separated by holidays. While I was at university the terms were changed to a 4 term year which made for more frequent breaks for holidays throughout the year. My husband trained as a school teacher and started work prior to my graduating so once I graduated even though my work year no longer had terms in it our life still revolved around a term system because of his work structure. Children came along and their schooling meant the term system has continued to feature in my life and I don't know any other way a year could be structured now. I sometimes wonder if I will ever experience life again without this regular breakup of the year - and will that be a better thing or not. Maybe once I retire the weeks will all blur into one and it won't matter!

I was thinking about it today as this is the first week of things being well and truly underway for a full week back at school. Mondays and Tuesdays have been my stay at home days when I was working and this was the time when I tried to catch up on errands, housework and maybe some time doing things for myself in amongst this. As I am on extended leave it feels a bit strange not having the feeling of having to cram everything in to those 2 days. The school holidays have not really let me notice this as we have all been at home and the days run together but today felt like a Monday. With the turmoil we have going on my husband has not been back at work but he had to go in today to set work for his reliever and I had a day at home all to myself! I got some chores done but also managed to get some of my book read and did a bit of thrift shopping for my side hustle (more on this in a later post). It was quite relaxing and slightly self indulgent feeling...

Knowing I have more days off to catch up with things while I am on leave, it has allowed me to focus on doing one thing at a time and ignore the everyday things that I keep getting distracted with knowing I am able to get to them tomorrow or the next day.

I have been quite pleased with the difference it has made the beginning of the first term feel for me knowing I have more time in my week to get things achieved and it feels like it will have a flow on effect toward the rest of my week and allow me to relax a bit on the weekends and spend time with my family. I think this is what I have been looking for and hoping to achieve with taking the break from work and what I would like to continue by adjusting things so I can work less overall. 

I know the term will still seem to rush by as the weeks go fast being busy with the kids and their after school activities and now with my husband having more medical treatment. I am hoping this new change to my week, term and year, for the first time since I was 5, will allow a chance for me to feel things are different and let me notice other differences in my day or week that make me stop and appreciate things instead of feeling harried all of the time. Hopefully it will also make me a nicer and less stressed mum! We'll see how this term goes and I'll let you now if I've made progress with this at the end of it!