Dear Readers,

A few times last week as I prepared for a weekend off of doing nothing to celebrate my birthday… well sort of, I had some plans that needed to be organized.

I  got a manicure and pedicure! (oh glorious pampering) so I had to schedule that along with childcare, so I had to find a time I was free and my husband was free to take care of Vivienne. Thankfully, I have a husband who understands the value of  “me time”!

As I headed to the salon, I said, I will see you in 2 hours, I fully expected it to take an hour and a half, but it took 2 and a half hours, there were lots of people so it just took longer. I find that since having a child, I take longer to do things, like get myself ready, get her ready and get myself out the door and get her out the door. Never mind that we might have issues along the way like a diaper change gone wrong requiring a costume change, causing, you guessed it more delays.

I also had a phone call scheduled with a friend who is in a different time zone, once upon a time, she was in Switzerland and I was in Texas, so a few hours is nothing compared to almost 12 hours so I am not complaining. That’s what you do for friendship!

On yet another day, I was meeting a friend for dinner and there was a child driven delay, and so I texted her to say, can we meet a little later. She was very understanding and that is lovely, but I felt bad because I hate changing plans even by a little mostly because it takes so much coordination to make it happen. Refer to “Mom Bingo”

https://jenniferhastonsays.com/2017/12/05/mom-bingo-aka-scheduling-sanity/

All of these plans have one thing in common, I am the one making them so I am in control of when they are and if I am on time or not.

I found myself apologizing for it the other day when I had an epiphany, all I had to do was add 15 minutes on to whatever time I was giving and then I would have a buffer built in for myself, traffic or other happenings. So simple and yet, it had NOT occurred to me till last week. So now in any plans I have made, I have given myself at least a 30 minute buffer so I have room to breathe!

Honestly, it’s the best gift I have given myself in a while.

How about you, dear reader? Do you give yourself a buffer? Should you?

What would open up if you did?

Think About It….