Hey, hey, hey! I’m a year older and I have a brand, spanking new website. You like? I want to give a great big shout-out to Inkberries and Isla Charm Photography for making my vision for this site become a reality.

 

And, to celebrate my birthday and the new website, I’m sponsoring a giveaway today. Yippee! But first —

 

Part 3 of the ‘Alone zone’ series…

In Part 1, you learned why alone time is so important and I busted the most common excuses parents make for not taking it. In Part 2, you discovered all the ways to make time for solitude even with that hectic schedule of yours. Today, I’m going to discuss what to do (and more important, what NOT to do) when in the Alone Zone.

 

If you’re anything like me, the minute you have time alone you want to run errands. You want to get as much accomplished on your to-do list as possible because it’s so much easier and faster to do it by yourself. You think that if you get all those things done, you’ll feel less stressed and therefore, it’s alone time well-spent.

 

WRONG! This is NOT the way to spend your alone time. Why? Because when you run around doing things that you “have to” get done, you aren’t using that time for self-CARE. At the end of the day, you’re still depleted, exhausted, and let’s face it — resentful.

 

When you schedule self-care, the goal is to come away from that time feeling refreshed, rejuvenated, calm, and happy. And since everyone has different ways to bring about those feelings, I’m going to ask you 3 questions to help you identify yours:

 

1) Before you had kids (or when you were a child), what activities or hobbies did you enjoy that you could do for hours and hours?

2) What activities or experiences are you putting off until the kids get older?

3) What is one self-care activity you can do this week that would help you feel refreshed and rejuvenated?

 

In case any of you are completely stuck when it comes to thinking of things, I’ve compiled a list of self-care activities to get your wheels turning. You can open the pdf file by clicking on the image below:

 

 

Now, on to other exciting stuff.

 

The Giveaway!

To help one of you with your well-deserved alone time, I’m giving away a $50 Spafinder gift card which can be redeemed at over 20,000 spas, yoga, Pilates, & fitness studios worldwide and never expires.

 

Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter. Leave a comment on the blog with your answer to question #3 above. Facebook fans of Less Drama More Mama will receive an additional entry.

 

Please read the complete Giveaway Terms and Conditions to be sure you are eligible to win.

 

The Giveaway ends at 11:59pm on Monday, October 21, 2013 and the Winner will be announced next week and notified by e-mail. Good luck!

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway