Planning a routine

Two days until the kids are back in school. Two days until I feel completely lost and adrift. Two days until my days are an empty expanse of waiting for them to be home and praying they are safe.

I know that I’m going to have a hard time with this change. I’ve worked in their school every year they’ve been there. I knew they would eventually go to middle school and be in a different building, but I thought I’d still be working and staying distracted. I was supposed to have another year with them. Now everything is different. This past year of being home with them every day was comforting. I loved it. Sure, I missed my students, but my own kids needed me and I was here for them. Now they won’t need me from 7:30-3:00 and I don’t know what to do with myself.

So I’m going to try to set up a weekly routine/schedule for myself to keep me productive instead of depressive. Here’s what I’ve come up with so far:

• M- meal plan and grocery store
• Tu- laundry and cleaning
• W- Walking with friends (if this day works for them)
• Th- Therapy
• F- Work
• Sa- Family time
• Su- church and aerial yoga

I know this will be flexible and certainly won’t fill the whole day, but I feel like having something tangible to accomplish each day will help me not feel defeated and useless.

I also thought it might be good to plan out some themed days for this blog, since I seem to be posting every day. Writing here makes me feel good, so I want to keep it up. Here are some thoughts for some themed days. Let me know what you think.

• M- Motivation Monday (how can I keep myself motivated this week?)
• Tu- Real Talk Tuesday (how am I actually doing?)
• W- Walking out of my comfort zone (how did I step out of my comfort zone this week?)
• Th- Therapeutic Thursday (reflections about my therapy session)
• F- Fun Friday (something I did or plan to do just for fun)
• Sa- Social Saturday (how did I socialize this week?)
• Su- Spiritual Sunday (how have I fed my spirit this week?)

These may or not work as weekly themes. But it’s worth a shot. I’d love to get a Blog Carnival or Blog Circle going. Back when I was a stay at home mom to toddlers, I had a blog and joined a few of each. A Blog Circle is when several bloggers post on a theme and link to others in the group, making a circle of links. Does that make sense?

Or there’s a Blog Carnival where other bloggers submit posts within a theme and I would create a post of links to those submissions so that readers can find them all in one place. I would have to do some more reading about Blog Carnivals before I could host one, but would be willing to learn if there’s interest. Or if someone knows of one that is already started for mental health and social anxiety, I’m happy to simply submit.

So how does all that sound? Anything intrigue you? Turn you off? Am I way off base and should just stick to my random post style that I’ve got going now? I hadn’t intended this blog to be for others, but I’m finding that I’m really loving getting comments and feedback. Makes me feel less alone. I’d love to somehow create a community here if possible. It helps to motivate me to keep working on myself when I know I’m not alone and I have people cheering me on. And thinking about building this community keeps me from thinking about my fears regarding school starting.