Peaceful Saturdays? Not so much.

It's Saturday again, a day of rest. A day of unwinding from a highly structured, tiring week. I look forward to the weekend every week, all week long. But the fact is, Saturdays are anything but relaxing. As I find little ways here and there every day to become more balanced and content, areas needing improvement and change find their ways to the top of the priority list. Saturdays, especially Saturday mornings, have topped the list at the moment. Ok. So.

They say that the first step to healing is to identify the problem. (Who "they" is I don't know, but "they" know a lot about a lot it seems...)

The problem is that there are four people in this house with four different agendas. My part of this is that after being in the "driver's seat" all week with the kids, I look forward to being able to share the driving. Hubby's home-yahoo! So I go into less of a take-charge mode and into a more of a go with the flow and take turns meeting the children's constant requests mode. I also like the idea of taking the morning nice and slow, since we've been on a schedule all week long. Dear daughter also seems to enjoy a morning at home, after being dashed out the door early each morning for a 6-hour school day. Darling son seems to go with the flow. He's just a happy guy most of the time. Hubby comes home after having been cooped up in his office for five days straight and is anxious to get out. Out means into town and outside playing and anything other than being in the house. So the stress begins. Add to that the fact that certain errands that are difficult to get done during the week, grocery shopping, bottle returns, post office, pharmacy, etc., are left to the weekend when there are two adults. The fact is, not only are the errands NOT easier on the weekends, it really shatters the sought-out peace and relaxation that a weekend should be. Ugh! So we basically spend the morning goofing off at home while hubby paces around trying to convince the kids to go out and do something while dear daughter says over and over that she doesn't want to go anywhere....hubby gets progressively annoyed at everyone's slow pace, and dear daughter gets obnoxious with him, a reaction to his mood, and so on. U.H.G. Basically I end up forcing the kids to get ready to get in the car. We get out for a little while, which is good for all of us. But it doesn't make for a calm, gentle, relaxing start to the day. And by the time we do get out and do a few errands or whatever, half the day is gone. Sometimes I end up telling hubby to go out and do whatever because the kids (dear daughter, typically) refuse to get ready to go. I'm sort of stuck between those two because while I understand hubby's desire to get out, I also understand dear daughter's need to be home and unstructured. This basically defines our every Saturday. Not fulfilling. So. That defines the problem.

The solution? Well, one solution would probably be to get each person, to the degree possible, to define the perfect Saturday. Then try to blend those together to make it the best we can for each person. Of course this becomes my job. Oh well, so be it. I accept that my job doesn't ever stop, which is ok. I have ways of meeting some of my needs. I would like to find ways to meet them in a more fulfilling way, but that's part of the process toward a more holistic lifestyle. I realize that preparing a schedule for Saturdays kind of takes away the go-with-flow unscheduled aspect of the weekend that is so appealing, but I also realize that it could be "built in" to the schedule, which might make it more enjoyable ultimately.

As things are, everyone ends up upset. Everyone. This post has taken me the entire day to write. There is much discord in the house. My neck hurts. This isn't working. Time for a change! We can do this!