Sunday, January 13, 2013

Stay at Home Musings: Isolation

One of the most challenging parts of being a stay at home mom is the isolation factor. Keeping ahead of Lucas's schedule as well as keeping the house under control doesn't leave a lot of time for social engagements, nor does our limited budget. The last three weeks have kept me particularly home-bound and I'm definitely feeling the cabin fever.

I'm hoping as the year progresses I can start getting out more during the week and spending time with other moms. Many of my friends with kids also work full time, which makes getting together difficult, and I'm terrible at making plans anyway so I rarely even see the ones that don't. There's a weekly playgroup at my church that I could certainly make more of a habit, but haven't. I did try out a mom's stroller running group, but they were all far beyond my level of fitness and most of the kids were a lot older than Lucas.

I'm generally fairly happy being solitary, but I know it's better for both of us to get out more and interact with other adults (for me) and kids (for him). Most of the time I feel like I am barely keeping my head above water with taking care of Lucas, taking care of myself, and taking care of the house. Fitting in errands and playdates and all that can seem overwhelming, so I simply stay home where everything is calm and easy. But it's so quiet! Even with internet radio and the occasional episode of Doctor Who.

I guess I could say, "Screw the housework!" But believe me, I'm doing the absolute minimum already so there's not much else I could let go before we all find ourselves living in literal squalor. I suppose, as with everything, it might get a bit easier as Lucas gets older? If only the three of us didn't insist on eating every day and wearing clean clothes all the time, I bet I could manage to get out a lot more.

On a final, more positive note, I'm doing quite well with my New Year's resolution of getting back into regular exercise. I can really tell a difference in my mood when I'm exercising. I've been going on short 20-25 minute walk/jogs around the neighborhood and doing Pilates in my living room. (Blogilates/Cassey Ho on Youtube is really good, and free!) I found a 10K I want to run Memorial Day Weekend, so that's the goal for now. Mini-goal: to work up to running 3 miles straight with the stroller.

3 comments:

  1. It does get easier! I would say basically everything gets steadily easier the older they get, from keeping the house clean to cooking every day to getting out almost daily. (I'm sure this trajectory of easiness stops its delightful upswing at some point, but I haven't met it yet!) After I got the chores thing down, it took over a year for me to finally meet a group of moms who worked for me socially and had the same sort of schedule. The good news is that these days everyone is on a budget so we mostly have coffee playdates at someone's house. I think a big factor is joining a mommy group with daily activities so you can pick and choose the ones you go to and have something to look forward to. Take one day at a time and you'll find your groove of getting out/staying home! Love the new blog, by the way!

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  2. I actually looked for mom's groups a few months back on Meetup, but all the ones that were nearby and the kids were similar ages, were all closed to new members, boo! Hopefully I can find one to get involved with soon -- I admit I am jealous of all the mom friends you have (according to FB) and spend time with!

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  3. Heh, I have a lot of mom "acquaintances" and a few close friends. ;) FB makes everything look 100x awesomer than it usually is! I hope you find something soon! If not you can always start a Meetup since I'm sure many moms in your area feel the same way. It'd be a fun blog post, too!

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