How Do You Spend Alone Time?

The other day I found myself in a very unusual predicament. It was 12pm on a Friday and I was staring at an hour of free time.

Fridays are with the kids (my working week is Monday through Thursday). So I usually balance my 8-month-old Evelyn on my hip with my left arm, use my right to race my 2-year-old Emiliano down the playset’s faded red slide, and wait until 1 p.m. to load my 5-year-old Ella into the car to pick her up from school. However, both babies took an early nap that day. Therefore, this precious unscheduled time is time for yourself.

I was taken aback for a moment. Is it better to get ahead of the household chores so that you have free time to play with the kids later? Or why not try hard at training? Should I take a nap too? Or wait. Should I finally start reading Strangers?

Then I took a deep breath and paused to assess the facts.

1) I had an hour to wake up the baby and get ready to leave.

2) I did it do not have I want to do anything using the screen.

4) I wanted to go outside and move if possible.

3) I needed to be able to easily interrupt whatever I was doing in case Evelyn or Emiliano woke up early.

This made easy training in the garden impossible. Over the years, I’ve learned that I get grumpy when I’m interrupted mid-squat. I didn’t even think about trying new baking recipes. (At this stage in life, there’s nothing more daunting than a sink full of dirty dishes.) Instead, I wandered into the backyard and grabbed some gardening shears.

For the next half hour, I fell into a pleasant trance, cutting a white rose from the bush and slipping the stem into the vase. By the time I heard Evelyn’s soft cries over the baby monitor, I had blossomed into a lush flower. All afternoon, as I pretended and refilled my water bottle, I kept glancing at the vase on the table. Looking at the cloud-like roses made me feel like I was taking a deep breath.

Now, whenever I find some alone time, I go out to the garden and look for flowers that are blooming. Every now and then I peek around the hut and pick a few wild poppies growing in the gravel. Other days, I have time to get up in my chair to cut purple branches from the jacaranda tree. But whenever I choose to spend a few minutes alone, touching leaves, measuring stem lengths, playing with color combinations, I end up feeling energized and grounded.

So I’d like to ask: How do you like to spend your alone time? Do you have room to fill with ongoing projects? Or are you micro-moments (like me) where you choose activities that you can pick up and drop off at a moment’s notice? I’d love to know.

PS A fun memoir that you can easily dip in and out of, with eight readers sharing their interests.