Homeschool Week: Take Care of Yourself!

Homeschool Week
April 23 through April 28

Welcome to “Homeschool Week”!

I am excited about the week!  I am excited to share what is on my heart – what God is teaching me and doing in my life – and am hoping it will bring encouragement to many.

To start the week, I want to talk about taking care of you.

This is a subject that has become very dear to my heart because I see how much it has affected my life.  My negligence in taking care of myself leads to problems.

I don’t have as much physical energy.

I get impatient and emotional.

I feel more pessimistic and discouraged.

My vision becomes clouded.

Little by little, my vigor chips away until eventually burnout results.

Let me remind you of a few things:

Homeschooling your children takes a lot of energy!  It is a full-time job.  You are training your children to become godly, well-educated, successful people.  That is no easy task!  Of course, we must trust God with this important job, but we should also take our part seriously.  We must build ourselves up so we may serve our children well.

A small cup can not pour out
a bucket of water.

You will give as much as you are able.  Sure you can still keep plodding along, trying to s-q-u-e-e-z-e every droplet out of your being to do what needs to be done.  That is a necessary part of life sometimes.  However, to live in this condition continually produces emptiness and weariness.

You are the only one who can take care of yourself!  For the most part, you are the one who controls your thoughts, orders your schedule, spends your time, puts the food on your plate and into your mouth, and puts your head on the pillow.  Your husband, friends, pastor, and family members will not do that for you!  You must have a vision to take care of yourself!

When I wrote my post for the New Year, I asked you to evaluate yourself in the following areas:

Time with God	Exercise
Sleep and Rest	Vitamins
Healthy Eating	Positive Attitude

How are you doing now?

Are your habits and attitudes strengthening you and bringing peace to your life or are they tearing you down?

Here are some practical exercises for you:

First, sit down with a pen, a sheet of paper, and a prayerful heart in a moment of quiet.  Ask God how you can tackle these (or other) areas of your life to refresh your being.  Make some (or ONE) goals for yourself.

Second, create two columns:  a list of things that ZAP your energy and a list of things that GIVE you energy.  Oftentimes we give ourselves to activities that we *think* will help us or give us the break we need when they actually zap us (wasting time on the internet is a good example).  Recognize where you might be wasting time and how you could use your time more wisely.

Third, you may want to list some areas of concern/stress.  Pray specifically about those areas and tackle these with intensity and priority! 

Quiet, restful breaks are a must!
Make sure you are scheduling them into your days.

Take care of yourself!
It is the good way to take care of your family!

Tomorrow I will address the issue of burnout.  See you then!