All I Want is an Afternoon to Myself

Self-Care Ideas for Overwhelmed Homeschool Moms

Practicing self-care in the margins of our lives isn’t ideal, but it’s doable. If most moms are being honest, they would like a whole afternoon to themselves to relax and recharge.

Your husband says he will take the kids out for the afternoon or that he can manage them at home for the day while you go out and do something. You are dying to take him up on his offer but you don’t really know what to do with all that time. You don’t want to waste a whole day binge watching Scandal and looking for Twitter fights.

After a hellish week you FINALLY decide to get out of the house but alas. You have ZERO idea what to do with yourself. Getting groceries or running errands is an option, but is that really self-care?

What is  Self-Care?

Self-care is doing activities for the express purpose of improving our lives. Things that improve our physical, mental, intellectual, and social lives. Things that relax, energize, and recharge you. Self-care can be napping, exercising, emailing a friend, or getting a facial.

Not every kind of self-care is going to work for everyone, and some types of self-care can be more engaging than others which is why it’s important to experiment with different kinds of self-care. Learning what helps you feel more centered and what restores you most effectively.

Types of Self-Care

1. Physical

Physical self-care involves fueling and taking care of your physical being. Things like exercise, drinking enough water, or just getting outside and enjoying the fresh air. Physical self-care can be as simple and quick as scheduling a doctor’s appointment to something more committed like signing up for a yoga class.

Read More:

• How I Stopped My Heavy Periods
• Four Simple and Fulfilling Physical Self Care Ideas

2. Mental

Mental self-care includes bettering our emotional and spiritual well-being. Things like meditating, journaling, or taking deep breaths. Mental self-care involves helping us take control of any emotions that are controlling us and using our values and serving a purpose greater than ourselves. This could involve an afternoon of pampering or sitting down and reading your favorite spiritual book.

Related Reads:

• 22 Ways to Practice Emotional Self-Care and Letting Go
• 45 Simple Self-Care Practices for a Healthy Mind, Body, and Soul

3. Intellectual

Intellectual self-care includes how you think and intellectual tasks. It’s about engaging your brain and becoming a smarter you! It can include things like reading, drawing, or doing puzzles. Intellectual self-care is exercise for your brain!

Read More:

• 150+ Self Care Ideas & Activities You Can Do Today
• Why Jigsaw Puzzles are the BEST Hobby

4. Social

Social self-care is about nurturing and maintaining relationships, familial or otherwise. It’s about getting closer to the ones that matter. It can be calling on the phone or going out with a friend for lunch.

Dig Deeper:

• So Many Self Care Ideas You Need to See to Believe
• Postpartum Self-Care: A Letter to my Postpartum Body

Which leads me to the list of self-care ideas for your free afternoon. I have divided them up into two categories: outings and home.

Self-Care Outings

I consider things like running errands an important part of mental health (click on the Going to the Well story below), but if you have a free afternoon groceries shopping just doesn’t sound as fun.

I encourage you to invite a friend with you for any of these outings because friendships are important and can often recharge us in ways we didn’t know were possible.

• Hair appointment. I’m terrible at regular hair cuts so an afternoon including a hair cut and lunch with a friend sounds divine!
• A day of pampering at a spa or where you get one. Can you tell I’m not a massage person?!
• Go for a drive. Pop in an audiobook or a podcast and just drive. A car with no children in it feels like a mini-vacation
• Go somewhere new. Visit an art museum or a state park.
• Go on a nature walk or hike.
• Treat yo’self! I friggin love Chick-fil-a but our nearest one is about 30-45 minutes away. It might not take all afternoon but driving there, enjoying a nice lunch without bathroom breaks, reluctant eaters, and a huge food bill would qualify as a treat!
• Participate in a group activity like paint night, a comedy club with friends, or sign up for a dance class.

Read More:

• Going to the Well: How I Changed my Perspective on Self-Care
• The Secret to Self-Care with Little Kids

An Afternoon of Self-Care at Home

Kill two birds with one stone but having your kids go out for the day (something exhausting preferably) and you stay home and relax.

• Movie marathon. Mental exhaustion is a real thing, and sometimes vegging with your favorite movies is just the trick!
• Sit and enjoy the silence. Nap, paint your nails, take a long bath, read. The silence is deafening when your children are out.
• Organize or clean your homeschool space. This falls into the “I will thank myself later for this” category. Plus, teachers get in-service days so why shouldn’t homeschool moms!

Homeschool moms have to practice self-care differently because we have to find time to practice it in the margins. School is takes place in our home and our home doubles as our school! Due to the overwhelming nature of this you  can’t be afraid to take time to for ourselves.

Looking for other self-care ideas? Read more below!

• 15 Minute Self-Care Ideas
• 1 Hour Self-Care Activities

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