Monday Murmurs :: Me time for mums

We all know it — you need some time to yourself to stay sane — but how many mums really practice it? When it comes to being a mum I can be a lil bit of a martyr (oh, okay, I'm up and down that cross all day). I often find myself longing for some time out but the reality is I just don't make it happen. I really think that Mary Poppins could land on my doorstep and offer to take care of my kids for a week and I would find some lame excuse to send her on her merry way. My daughter will only eat her breakfast if there is exactly four and a quarter tablespoons of milk on it, my son can't possibly fall asleep unless I have scratched his back in a particular mandala pattern — you know the kind of ridiculous stuff.
So when I justify it this way I really have no excuses: if I don't do something for myself I'm not going to be the best mum I can be.
I'm choosing to return to yoga class as my first step in the reclaim-your-identity-before-the-kids-leave-home program for martyr-mums.
It's two hours one evening a week where I won't be in control of making sure the homework's done, teeth are brushed and stories are read before bed. Sure, I'll make my husband walk me through it all step-by-step when I get home but I don't doubt for a second that the littles will be sleeping happily with full bellies and kissed eyelids.
Yoga ticks a lot of boxes for me. Before I had my children I was a devotee. I love it as an exercise and for the meditation. It really seems to work for my body; increasing my flexibility, agility and tone. It helps with my mental clarity (things have been getting rather hazy in this head) and relaxes and energises me at the same time. It really is bang for my buck in terms of the benefits I garner (not to mention the windfall for my family — a happier, calmer, fitter, zen Mama is good for all).
Do you take time out for you?
What do you do?
Do you need time out?
Do it.
Like my sis says, if the mama isn't happy, no one's happy (or if they are they better hide it well around her).