June 9th, 2018
The job I currently have is Pro Re Nata (PRN), which means as the situation demands. So sometimes I work five days a week and sometimes I don't work at all. That may sound really difficult to plan for, but when your husband has a job and a business that pretty much works the same way, it's actually pretty great. We are used to very busy weeks and very slow weeks. An ever-changing pattern that keeps us on our toes and makes it possible for us to spend days at a time at home doing things together or cover for each other if the other is working long hours.
So when I have a week like this one where I don't work, what do we do? We amp up all the activities that a busy week don't allow for and a pregnant body longs for. Like slow mornings with several rounds of breakfast. Long afternoons at the playground. Taking Delta for runs by the water. Long naps together and joint cartoon/yoga sessions or cartoon/knitting sessions. Baking elaborate cakes or Danish bread and buns. And lots of other slow-living, toddler appealing activities.
I love these weeks and try to not let plans of building, updating and developing our property take over, because with a growing belly and a 2-year old, there really isn't much I can participate in on that front anyway. All I can and should be doing is growing/raising my little humans. Everything else can wait. I think we live in a time where we are constantly expected and encouraged to be productive. We measure ourselves and each other by what we produce and it can be incredibly difficult to slow down and do things that are considered unproductive or at least not valued on a production scale. Like raising your kid on a day-to-day basis or being pregnant. So I have to remind myself that I am doing something important and worthwhile when I have a week where I don't work and seemingly just hang out at my house all day and make time for daily naps.
In her 2018 New Year Speech, the Danish Queen actually encouraged the Danes to do something unproductive this year. And as stress is rapidly increasing with more than 13% of Danes and 3.4% of Americans suffering from severe and debilitating stress, being capable of doing something unproductive is one way of managing stress. I think another way is to also realize that those "unproductive things" in fact serves lots of purposes and have valuable meaning. And the only way to realize this is to do those things. Embrace them and enjoy them. You will soon enough be able to join the production train again.
So when I have a week like this one where I don't work, what do we do? We amp up all the activities that a busy week don't allow for and a pregnant body longs for. Like slow mornings with several rounds of breakfast. Long afternoons at the playground. Taking Delta for runs by the water. Long naps together and joint cartoon/yoga sessions or cartoon/knitting sessions. Baking elaborate cakes or Danish bread and buns. And lots of other slow-living, toddler appealing activities.
I love these weeks and try to not let plans of building, updating and developing our property take over, because with a growing belly and a 2-year old, there really isn't much I can participate in on that front anyway. All I can and should be doing is growing/raising my little humans. Everything else can wait. I think we live in a time where we are constantly expected and encouraged to be productive. We measure ourselves and each other by what we produce and it can be incredibly difficult to slow down and do things that are considered unproductive or at least not valued on a production scale. Like raising your kid on a day-to-day basis or being pregnant. So I have to remind myself that I am doing something important and worthwhile when I have a week where I don't work and seemingly just hang out at my house all day and make time for daily naps.
In her 2018 New Year Speech, the Danish Queen actually encouraged the Danes to do something unproductive this year. And as stress is rapidly increasing with more than 13% of Danes and 3.4% of Americans suffering from severe and debilitating stress, being capable of doing something unproductive is one way of managing stress. I think another way is to also realize that those "unproductive things" in fact serves lots of purposes and have valuable meaning. And the only way to realize this is to do those things. Embrace them and enjoy them. You will soon enough be able to join the production train again.
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