Days Off

As I have been feeling under the weather I have taken a couple of days off.  However as I do not have a full time paid job I always struggle with what the term actually means for me.

My full-time profession is as a mother and I long for a career as a writer.  These two strands of my life have continued despite the hiatus. 

I haven’t stopped writing because it brings me so much joy.  Although I must admit I have spent too much time recently blogging, networking and talking about writing.   I really must set aside time to work on turning “unravelling-edges” into a book or at least a proposal to send out to agents.

Being a parent is a full time necessity.  The only way to take time off is to make complex contingency plans for someone else to step into your shoes temporarily.  Single parenthood is particularly difficult or as a fellow widow said to me this year,

“We are not single parents but double parents

 – having to be both mother and father.”

There is no “other” parent waiting in the wings to share the duties with.

With the planned strikes tomorrow there are going to be more people than usual juggling work and family commitments.  There are no easy answers.

So what did I do on my days off?  Apart from blogging and catching up with emails not a lot but I did lie on the sofa and watch a film, trying NOT to feel guilty for doing so.  It took me both days to get it finished!

I could justify anything writing related but just sitting on the sofa in the middle of the day was a different matter even if I did feel ill.  It was just a bit too decadent.

Maybe what I really need is a break from the “guilt”. 

Why not give yourself the day off from it too?