I apologize for cross posting this to here and to my writing blog, but I’ve been slammed for time, and I need to get a blog post up here anyway I can.
I’m feeling horrifically self-indulgent today, or rather I feel horrific because I was self-indulgent today. The local schools were closed today for the election, so I didn’t have to worry about getting to the bus stop by 3:15 to pick up my oldest daughter. She stayed home with me and her little sister, who had a temperature of 102 degrees. The youngest acted fine most of the day, but because of the fever she actually took an afternoon nap for the first time in almost six months. A very loooooooong nap.
With the youngest sound asleep and the oldest happily drawing and playing in her room all afternoon, I was actually able to enjoy my old work schedule of three uninterrupted hours of work today. I handled a few e-mails, battled it out with a horror story that refused to settle on a plot line, and wrote over one thousand words in that time. I didn’t focus on the story that was on my to-do list for today – I was too obsessed with fixing and then writing the horror story. But I definitely got something accomplished.
And I feel horrible about it.
Should I have knocked off at 3PM like I usually do on school days and spent more time with my eldest daughter? I know she was perfectly happy in her room, working on an art project for her kindergarten class (an art project that is due on Thursday and was going to require a lot her time to complete anyway, I might add). I just can’t believe I had so much time today to write! I haven’t had such a luxury in ages, three uninterrupted hours. At best, I manage to get an hour in the afternoon to write most days because one child comes home from school at 3 and the other refuses to go down for a nap anymore. I need this kind of time to write, and my taking it and using it didn’t hurt anybody, so why do I feel so crappy about having spent the whole afternoon doing what I love?
Maybe I ate too much chocolate today. Damn Halloween candy…
But seriously, I need to do something about my work schedule, about my daily schedule. I need to find a way to get back those three hours of writing time, yet still tend to the needs of my kids. It simply kills me that I can’t do this anymore.
Anybody else feel horribly guilty when they get time like this to work?
This is my take on it-
If this was just a hobby, something that you do to pass the time, then maybe spending a lot of time on it is a little selfish. It’s more than a hobby. It’s a career. It’s something you’re good at that has the potential to be really good for your family in the long run. It’s not selfish.
Add to that the fact that you are front and center in their lives all the time, then you are most certainly not being selfish. You do things with them, go places, make things, etc. You are an awesome mother!
You’re not alone in wondering about this but I promise you, you’re not selfish.