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I work in education, and the district I work for had their scheduled fall break last week. It has been glorious and I needed the down time more than I realized. I am fortunate that my childcare provider also follows the district schedule, so my kiddos were able to be off with me, and my husband was off this year too. The weather was beautiful, sunny and around 65-70 degrees all week with minimal wind. I live in a part of the country where it is scorching heat from May until October, then we are lucky if we get two weeks of fall weather before it is freezing cold.

My husband and I love to travel and explore the outdoors, but since having young kids, we have opted for staycations on our time off. This year was no different, with two kids under the age of 3, we do not quite confident enough traveling for an extended time with them yet. Instead, we explored some local parks and creeks and went to our metropolitan library for some kid-friendly Halloween and fall kid fun for our daughter. We enjoyed some seasonal kid-friendly movies, and built a fire in the backyard and roasted marshmallows. We snuggled, we ate, we laughed, we had so much fun.

If you read my previous post, you may remember I am trying to start implementing more of a self-care routine and devote at least ten minutes, every Sunday to do something for myself. If you haven’t had a chance to read it yet, you can check it out here. I realized I subconsciously participated in self-care this weekend off with my family. Even though I didn’t use the viral Tik -Tok face mask I planned on doing, I enjoyed making core memories with my family. My almost 3 year old daughter told me I was her best friend. I spent a relaxing evening at home with my husband. We tickled my infant son and heard the cutest baby giggles. And that is more self care than I could have gotten in 10 minutes on the Sunday before I go back to work.

Do you work in education and get a fall break? If so, and your schedule allows, I hope you can take some time to unplug. Don’t have the time to just unplug for a few days? I get it. I hope you are able to find some little slice of self-care today, whether it’s spending all day outside with your nearest and dearest, or taking some deep breaths in your car before starting your second shift of the day after being up all night, you can handle whatever this week throws at you!

Keep pushing forward and believe in your abilities! I sure do!

~Shay

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