The magic of 10 minutes

Did you know that 10 minutes is a magic stretch of time that makes a big difference?

I am currently in the middle of juggling family and work whilst Tim is away, working in London from Monday - Friday. We are into our 2nd week of living like this and I am tired. Really really tired. The temptation to collapse in a heap at various points of the day is very tempting, but if I do that there is no-one there to tag team with.

And so I have discovered the magic of 10 minutes. Let me give you some examples.

10 minutes (early morning) praying

Yes folks, you read that correctly...early morning praying. If you've been following my posts, you may have picked up that mornings are not my friend and I am unable to articulate a word, let alone a sentence when I first get up. Usually, Tim gets up early and then wakes me up with a cup of coffee at 7am which allows me to gradually wake up. Well, Tim isn't here at the moment (so I have to make my own coffee!!) and I have recognised that it's not really fair for me to be grumpy with the kids, so I have set myself the challenge to get up early and spend some time praying. How much time...? 10 minutes! It's a manageable amount of time that makes a difference. It makes a difference to my mood, the atmosphere in the house and the mood of the children. Jemimah is notoriously bad at doing ANYTHING in the morning and since I have been doing this, she has been 100% different. Another change has been a complete reduction in arguments, particularly between sisters (I do feel somewhat responsible for the hatred of mornings in my girls...!)

I'll be honest, I haven't managed every morning - a late night last week and feeling grotty and ill this week have meant I have missed a couple, but I'm under grace so it's all good. 10 minutes praying makes a difference.

10 minutes playing

So I have realised that my other 'dip' is around 7pm, which is usually when Tim brings me another cup of coffee! The trouble with dipping at this time of day, is that it's when my children want (and deserve) my attention! When there are two of us here, we can tag team and when there is only me here, we can't. My son, Eli is 10 and loves company, loves doing stuff with others and doesn't enjoy occupying himself. I know this but when he asks me at 7:30pm if I'll play cards with him, my honest first reaction is to inwardly sigh and think I'm too tired. But I have made a real effort in this last week or so to spend 10 minutes playing cards with him. And it makes a difference. A HUGE difference to him. It fills his emotional tank up because that's how he works. And I've realised just how he and Tim relate to each other - it's in the being with each other; playing on the XBox together, doing something in the garden together, kicking a ball around together, eating sweets together. So with Tim not here, I really need to fill that gap and spend time doing stuff with Eli. And actually, I really enjoy playing cards and Eli's company so it's not a hardship - tiredness can just cloud your decision making at times. Having fun can be so underrated but it's so important and allowing your kids to draw you into their world of fun is good. Laughing is good. 10 minutes playing makes a difference.

10 minutes planning

Ok, so how many of you who are married know this feeling - it's the weekend and you get to the end of Saturday and have had a few little disagreements with your spouse throughout the day and you now feel a bit frustrated that the weekend hasn't gone how you had imagined it?! Is it just me? So, we had a bad weekend last weekend. Tim came home from London feeling unwell. I had a mental list of all the things that we needed to get done at the weekend to make the forthcoming week run smoothly etc. But the mistake we made was that we didn't plan together. I don't know why we didn't because we know what a difference it makes. Sitting down together for 10 minutes with a coffee (obviously!) first thing on a Saturday morning and chatting through what we each need to do and want to do over the weekend makes such a difference. It's so important to carve out the time to communicate and we just didn't do that last weekend. It's the same with anything though - I know at work how much more productive I am if I spend 10 minutes planning at the start of the day rather than rushing straight in because everything is urgent. Or if there's a decision to make or an email to reply to, training yourself to think it through for 10 minutes prevents you from an instant reaction.

So there are three examples of the magic of 10 minutes. Praying, playing and planning. It's very pleasing that they all being with the letter 'P!'

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