Resolution Update

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Each week I’ll update my progress in this particular post. If you usually receive emails when I write new posts, I don’t believe you’ll get an email for the updates. I will, however, link to the post on Facebook (www.facebook.com/ohhonestly) each time I update it. So if you want to keep up on how I’m doing, you may want to ‘like’ my Facebook page.

Week 3: Last week I told you I was going to record how I spend all my time and share the results with you this week. Well, I started to, I really did. But it is hard to record every hour of every day. An afternoon would go by and I’d scramble to remember what I was doing at 1:30 and for how long and what I switched to and do I include the two minute bathroom break and…. ugh, I’m exhausted just thinking about it. I did record the first couple of days and I paid attention to what I was doing the rest of the week in a general sense. There’s a predictability to my days. I get up, feed the baby, eat breakfast (while on the computer), and feed the boys. The rest of the day is spent doing housework, taking care of the kids, hopping on and off the computer, preparing and eating meals, and trying to figure out how it’s five o’clock already and I haven’t gotten anything accomplished… again.

I do find that my original resolution is morphing a bit. Yes, I still need to stop spending so much time on the computer. But as I’ve lessened my time online, I’ve discovered that I’m still not satisfied with how I’m spending my hours. I’m not intentional which leads to a LOT of wasted minutes. And the thing that I feel is most important (spending real quality time with my kids) gets pushed aside in order to put away laundry or tidy up the kitchen or… whatever.

So along with going offline, I think I need to start defining what I want to accomplish each day or week or month. I’ve never been a huge goal setter, and although I like ‘to-do lists’ I don’t often utilize them. Maybe that needs to change.

I’m probably setting myself up for failure by adding onto my original resolution, but I don’t see it as adding on so much as ‘redefining’. I love the fact that this whole journey has made me more aware of how I want to live and who I want to be. I have a long way to go, but at least I’ve taken the first step!

Week 2: Wow, I’m really bad at this! I’m like some kind of addict minus the withdrawal symptoms. One of my Facebook friends and I were joking about starting a support group,  but since she lives 700 miles from me it would have to be online which would kinda defeat the purpose.

I will say that my overall online time has dropped, but I still jump on and off throughout the day instead of just staying unplugged for long periods of time and then doing what I need to do all at once. I’m not too pleased with myself. Apparently I’m seriously lacking in self-control.

My cousin suggested keeping track of how we spend our time each day so we can see where all the hours go. I was going to start this week, but as I wrote down what I was doing each hour it occurred to me that preparations for our annual New Years party were skewing the results a bit and making it look like I spend much more time than I actually do on housework. So stay tuned for my Week Three results in which I’ll give you a breakdown of how I spend my time. Don’t worry, I won’t list every hour of every day… think big picture!

Week 1: This week was a mixed bag of failure and success. It was a bit of a strange week to start my challenge because, with Christmas and all that goes along with it, our normal schedule was totally shot. This proved to be both a help and a hindrance. On the helpful side, we were out of the house, spending time with family, so I wasn’t around a computer all the time like I usually am. On the other hand, I couldn’t exactly keep up with the plan I had made since our typical schedule was non-existent. I found myself hopping online when I found a few free moments, which meant I was on for shorter periods at a time, but more frequently than I wanted to be.

Turning the computer off is probably the best thing I did to help keep my resolution. Facing a five minute wait time in order to jump on Facebook is enough of a deterrent to help me stay away. However, I’ve discovered that I also need to hide the iPad or not charge it or something. My obvious weakness makes me very thankful that I don’t have a smart phone!

Overall, I’d say that I didn’t do a great job keeping my resolution, but I definitely did a lot better than I usually do. I was very aware of being online when the kids were around and tried to limit my computer time to moments when they were otherwise engaged.

I know several of you have decided to take the challenge with me and I want to hear from you! How did you do this week? What did you find helpful or hurtful in meeting your goal? Let’s keep up with each other’s progress so we can encourage one another. And if you’re hearing about this for the first time, it’s not too late to jump on board!

Lauren Cormier

About Lauren Cormier

Lauren is a 30-something stay at home mom who doesn't have it all together and she's pretty sure you don't either. She hopes that by sharing her real life (not the glossy made-up version) she can encourage you to drop the act and get real. Lauren lives in Hermon with her husband and their three children. She also blogs at www.ohhonestly.net