Turning Off the Switch

I have a new thing I do when I travel: Turn off the switch 24 hours in advance of returning home.  What does this look like?

1) Evening before in hotel room: No work.  I create a bit of a to-do list and then I turn off my computer, and curl up with a book or a movie if one is on.  Fall asleep no later than 9 pm.

2)  On airplane home, no work.  Read book, listen to music, or sleep.  Make sure and eat healthy meal.

3)  As I deplane, start to gear up for my "at home momness."  I expect the house to be messy, I get excited about cleaning, and try to think of what kind of things I can do with my kids to make it a fun time for them.

4)  When I walk in the door, get right down to business.  No napping, no endless snacking, and no movie watching.

This sounds really simple, but the decompressing 24 hours in advance is really important.  I want my children to look forward to me coming home, not a mom who walks in the door and criticizes or is grumpy.

It takes a lot of effort, but I have used this formula the last three times I came home and it makes a HUGE difference in my own attitude.  Unfortunately, it wears off around 8 pm and then my strategy is to go straight to bed.  I wish I could make it past 8 so I could extend the high energy flow to hanging out with Steve, but when you get up at 3 or 4 pm East Coast Time, it is hard to go all day with positive energy.  Especially after a 5-cities/5 days traveling bout.

As a side note, Steve and I went on our first date in which we didn't hire a babysitter.  I can feel a change of lifestyle coming on and it feels good.