I’m currently on maternity leave and have spent a lot of time sitting on a chair, or a bed, usually in a dark room with my baby, feeding, pacifying, rocking and holding him as he drifts of to sleep, and sometimes I’ve to be with him longer if it was one of those days when he is fussy and is harder to get to sleep.
What can one do during these times?
Productivity is at a standstill, while the world still moves around you.
The silent times after you have fed and pacified, rocked and snuggled your baby to sleep.
I’d go on my phone, reply messages, read news, maybe play unblock me or Sudoku on it, but also, I start thinking.
Pondering, the mind wanders, anywhere and everywhere.
Past issues, lessons, plans for the family and our future. What to eat tomorrow, what the kids need to bring to school, how our income will be the coming year. Work topics or even a new blog idea.
Many times I write down notes on my Google keep, to remember them by.
But not many of us are confined in a chair in a dark room, and on long leave to care for a newborn baby while recovering.
We don’t usually have the luxury of just sitting in a thinking spot to process our thoughts, not in this day and age.
So when can you process and review through your backlog of ideas, thoughts, worries inside?
Some activities came to mind, those that allow you to get creative or be pensive while doing something that occupies little working memory or RAM in your brain’s computer to run it well.
1. Walking
This one tops the list.
Walking is the best autopilot activity which also provides the benefit of anxiety relief as this simple exercise releases endorphins that aids in reducing stress and alleviates our mood.
Walking also releases dopamine, which can make you feel more motivated and generally makes you feel good.
This will help us process our internal thoughts better, more thoroughly, helping us view from different angles.
Not to mention its health benefits of weight loss and preventing illnesses in the long term.
We try to take walks when we have the time, even just to get out of the house for an errand, walking in the supermarket or in new areas in town, either with the kids, or when alone with the husband on date nights.
So if you feel you have a lot to process through inside, take a walk, at least 30 minutes.
This may help you work out your internal thoughts.
2. Book wrapping
I personally enjoy this particular task a bit more than others.
I considering it as an act of preserving my children’s many books and magazines because books hold value in its content, good books, science magazines, comics, Enid Blyton classics, wimpy kid series, it goes on.
And it’s also therapeutic. Measure the sheet of clear wrapping paper, cut it, fold, and tape it down.
A book is protected against more wear and tear.
Plus my mind wanders while doing it and i let it do so, to do list, old memories, new ideas, proposals, work, family, children’s needs, pending house work, and more.
I do recommend it.
3. Coloring
Coloring books, paint by numbers, printed images, and then sharpening color pencils that have gone blunt after coloring.
Outcome of it is an image made better with color.
It may be a kids drawing, or a beautiful black and white portrait to fill out with colour.
Either way, it can help you clear your head.
4. Folding laundry
Imagine telling someone before you make a big decision instead of saying i will sleep on it
You say let me come back to you after i do my laundry.
If it works, it works.
Laundry piles up, especially in households with children. It’s a constant in the weekly chore.
May it’d be a good time to have a go with your thoughts while folding those socks and underwears.
5. Cleaning
Be it cleaning the bathroom, sweeping, vacuuming, doing the dishes.
It’s done so frequently you can do it without much thought.
So make space for deep thinking and ask yourself questions that you have not been asking, if its needed.
There it is.
Taking the time either for self-reflection or attempting to think through problems, maybe solving some issues in your personal life or work related matters in your day to day tasks.
You might get an ‘eureka’ moment while doing it.
Even processing difficult events in life, or grief, is possible in these moments.
Have a go at it i you have not yet already.
Time after all is still is a limited resource.