17 : Time For ME : Something Old!

Free TIME!

It's something old because it was something I used to have : time!  Now, I finally have it back, very limited but it IS back.  The last time I can really remember having true time to myself, that didn't include after all the kids were in bed, was when my fourth child went to kindy.  Although it was about that same time I also decided I would attend university full time, so that was the end of that! 

Here I am, 13 years and 2 more children later, back with free time!  The only other time in my life I had true free time was when I was a child myself. It's hard to really know exactly what to do in those precious hours; with so many choices I really have to pace myself.  The alleged 3 hours of kindy quickly turns into barely 2 hours, once you count dropping off and picking up and staying until he is comfortable.  Still, two whole hours ALL to myself up to 5 days a week is a real treat - not counting work days!  After three weeks of this new luxury I have pretty well got it sorted and am beginning to follow a bit of a pattern.  I do have to get over the fact that I am generally pretty tired after having to get up much earlier than my body would like and take the children to school in order to gain my free time! It's even tougher when work gets in the way and I struggle to stay awake and remain motivated following a 14 hour long night shift.

However, I am really enjoying the time to go for long walks by myself, when it's not flooding or 46 degrees that is! I even got a new app on my iPhone which records my walk, turns out it is 4.7 km long. I enjoy walking up and down all the steep hills where I live and over all of the different surfaces, road and reserve.  If I feel particularly good I spend a portion of it breaking into a run.  After feeding fish and getting myself a coffee and some breakfast it leaves me with approximately one more hour all to myself.  Lately I have had to battle between spending it reading or writing.  Reading tends to win as one hour isn't quite enough for me to get into writing mode. 

I save the household chores and fish upkeep to the afternoon, once Master Four is back and the world is a little more normal.  Turns out that my long break between university courses is over, I have decided to do some more external study.  This time doing something I am interested in other than Paramedic studies, no pressure, just to see how it goes.  I have enrolled in a couple of University Psychology subjects via distance education, this should lead me toward completing a Graduate Diploma in Psychology.  Very exciting...