If there's one thing I really miss from my life before children is the endless amount of free time I used to have to do the things I love the most. Not surprisingly, according to a recent survey by Real Simple and Families and Work Institute, I'm not alone. Fifty percent of American women say they don't have free time, defined as "time you spend on yourself where you can choose to do things that you enjoy."
In fact, 52 percent of women say they have less than 90 minutes a day of free time. Sadly, it sounds like a lot more than what I have. The culprit? Our children, of course!
While being a mom is THE best thing that's ever happened to me (most days, at least), having no time to myself really sucks. I consider myself super lucky because my husband and I truly share (most) childrearing responsibilities–although I'm still in charge of scheduling activities, classes, doctor's appointments, etc. I also get to work from home, which is a blessing because I don't spend any time commuting. And yet, it always seems like the day doesn't have enough hours!
I'm not even talking about free time to go to a spa or go have drinks with a girlfriend because I do try to fit those into my schedule as often as possible. No. I__'m talking about free time on a daily basis to just do what I want.__ Sometimes, this means not doing anything, just vegetating. I truly don't remember the last time I did that. But, more often than not, it just means free time so I can do what I truly love: read.
Although this has gotten much better now that my kids are a bit older, the truth is that by the time I get to bed at night I'm so exhausted that I can barely read a couple of pages before I start drooling all over my book. How sad!
How do you feel about free time? How much of it do you have?
Image via chefranden/flickr
