Being Unproductive - Why Is It So Hard For Moms?

After a busy few weeks preparing for Thanksgiving balanced around writing and editing work, I woke up Monday morning feeling a bit blue.

It hit a little harder once I kissed my daughters and saw them ride away on the school bus. The silence, of which there was none in my home the past five days, was deafening. This was compounded by the fact that I had a terrible night sleep Sunday night.

My first thought was to climb back in bed, which I did for 20 minutes. Then I looked around my home’s upstairs portion, the part the Thanksgiving guests did not go, to see loads of laundry, dirty sheets and more.

I told myself the best way to get out of this slump is to make the upstairs look as good as the downstairs, and I got to work.With the flip of the radio switch I was throwing sheets in the washing machine and tidying up pile after pile.

I made my way to my home office, to see a similar mess. With my new editing job with Tidewater Parent Magazine, I actually got a little scared looking at it. My fear was my new position would be a disaster if I don’t get organized. I made serious progress. Before I knew it, lunch time had arrived and I was feeling better.

About an hour later, I wondered if something was wrong with me in that I had to have a huge list of things to do in order to be very happy. There is a sense of accomplishment, but is there anything wrong with just taking time off?

I did take the day after Thanksgiving off with my daughters and husband. We went to the zoo in Norfolk followed by dinner out at local restaurant. It had been a day of fun coupled with nice weather and the use of a Groupon we bought a few of months ago. In that way, I was productive, I told myself, because we were having family time. That is important in helping our children feel secure and loved. It was also a reward for their cleaning help in the days leading up to preparing to host nine guests.

But did I have to think of myself as productive? Why not just having fun? I do get a good sense of worth when I consider myself productive, but does it ever hurt just to goof-off? What if I had taken today just to read for pleasure, paint my nails and try a different hairstyle – just for fun?

There probably would have been a not-so-fun venture on a guilt trip. I think sometimes we as moms lose that sense of life needs to sometimes be unproductive. Get an idea of that and not feel guilty about it – especially coming off a particularly productive time.