My Stay- at- Home Routine

If you told me years ago that I was going to be a stay-at-home wife, I would have rolled my eyes and sneered. When doing my thesis, I found myself unemployed -- and overly anxious. 

I was stressed and tensed. I was concerned, too; first, about what I’d be doing at home, and second, how my future employers would view my work history. I worried about gaps in my resume.  But I had a deeper distress: "I thought about my peers, how hard they were working, and how high and fast they were climbing the corporate ladder"

In today’s blog, I will share how I’ve tried to keep productive, even in my trepidation. In my next blog, I will share how I managed to deal with anxiety.

Immediately I lost my job, I came up with a priorities list, and had a working routine that mostly involved school. After graduation, I had more time in my hands, I almost went bonkers, I’d toss and turn in bed till noon, wake up overwhelmed and anxious about what the future holds.

Then a friend encouraged me to get back to having a daily routine. I took time to determine the most important things in my life, and especially in this season, which are- God, Marriage, Getting a job, Losing weight and getting fit, Serving, Growing deeper relationships and friendships.

I thought it might be helpful if I shared my weekday routine schedule. I hope it will spur someone to get some order in their life.

Monday- Friday Routine

Ø  Wake up at reasonably early for a Stay at Home; For me, this is when hubby wakes up, but not later than 6:30 am. I immediately dress in my work out outfit and get psychologically ready for exercise

Ø  Quick fix breakfast; I usually have a week’s stock of sweet potatoes and pancakes in the fridge. Bread, eggs, last night’s leftovers make part of our breakfast. Our culture is to always take breakfast together.

Ø  Devotion; I do my quiet time for 30 – 60 minutes; I have been using CITAM’s Safari guides so I can be consistent in Bible reading. I also use this time to prepare for two of my weekly bible study meetings. 

Ø  Exercise: If am doing a morning run, I usually skip breakfast and devotion to after hitting the road. However, I prefer HIIT home workouts, and so on most days, I exercise after devotion, for a maximum of 1 hour.

Ø  Shower and Dress Up; I bet that every Stay-at-Home has found themselves wearing the same track pants from 2 nights before. No shame in this, I’m guilty too! But I have purposed to make a conscious effort to wear something that makes me feel good and confident. Mostly, this is some nice denim and tops. Once or twice a week I do my face and hair routines.

Ø Read a book; I challenged myself to cultivate a reading habit. I am struggling here but I strive to read a book for an hour a day. I was never book junkie but I have realized I enjoy reading biographies. I get most of the books on Kindle. On days when am not reading, I watch Vlogs, Ted Talk, Documentaries, check out any new job openings.

Ø  House Chores: Depending on the day of the week, I’ll either do laundry or dust. I recently started weeding my handful of flowers. I also prepare meals from scratch and cook. J

Ø  Host or visit a friend/ run errand/ new recipes; For my afternoons, I always ensure that am either visiting someone, or am out running errands, or am trying out a new recipe. I am more intentional on growing my relationships so am usually looking for someone to hang out with.

I recently came back to blogging and it’s consuming a lot of my time. I know my routine will change but am working at keeping a time plan as much as I can possibly do so.

If your life is currently not structured, consider getting a morning routine. Scribble five things you need and want to do each morning. These could be exercise, reading, praying and cleaning up the kitchen, feeding the kids breakfast, preparing lunches, dinners etc. Whatever those things are, commit to starting up early and consistently do them for three weeks. 

If you are trusting God for a job or a business idea, just know that you are where God wants you to be at this point in your life. Make the best out of your today!!!!