Me Time Minutes: The End of the School year

In this episode of 'Me Time Minutes,' host Molly offers an honest and supportive conversation about navigating the chaotic end of the school year. She shares practical tips for moms to prioritize their calendars, set firm boundaries, delegate tasks, and carve out essential breathing room. Molly emphasizes the importance of celebrating small wins and giving oneself permission to feel a range of emotions during this busy season. The key message is to remind moms that they are doing enough and to encourage them to focus on self-care amidst the chaos.

00:00 Introduction: Surviving the End of the School Year

00:26 The Chaos of May and June

01:37 Prioritizing Your Calendar

02:48 The Power of Saying No

03:33 Delegating Tasks

04:35 Building in Breathing Room

05:44 Celebrating Small Wins

08:00 Embracing the Emotions

09:52 Recap and Final Thoughts

Transcript

0:00

On today's episode, we're talking about something we've all got circled on the calendar. Let's talk about surviving the end of the school year. Hey, welcome to me time, minutes, your quick self-care boost and honest mom conversation in the middle of a busy week, because even a few minutes of me time can change everything. Let's dive in. Hello, hello and welcome back to me. Time, minutes, your quick little pocket of calm within the chaos. As always, I'm Molly, and today we're diving into something that's creeping up super fast the end of the school year. Now, if you're feeling like your brain is just one big calendar notification right now, as always. You are not alone. May and June can often feel like December's chaotic twin. It's back to back field trips, spirit days, final projects, teachers, gifts, concerts, graduation parties, and somehow you're supposed to keep all the regular life stuff going too. Housework, work, family life, all while holding space for the emotional weight of watching your babies close. Another chapter. It's a lot. It's not you. You are doing the best you can. This is just a really tough season. So first things first, I wanna remind you, you are doing enough, even when you feel like you are barely holding it together. This time of year is not about perfection, it's about getting through it with your sanity mostly intact. So today I wanna share with you a few ways that you can protect your piece. While surviving this crazy season, the number one thing that I want you to focus on is prioritizing your calendar. Like your life depends on it because your sanity certainly does. So not every event or task has to be a yes. We've talked about this a lot. Seriously, look at the invitations and the requests coming in and give yourself permission to ask. Is this necessary? Will this bring me or my family joy? Is this something only I can do? If the answer to any of those questions is no, it's okay to skip it. Your presence, while valued and important, is not required everywhere all the time. My favorite line from one of my movies, favorite movies growing up is you can't ride two horses with one ass sugar bean from Sweet Home, Alabama. And it's true because moms are constantly trying to spread themselves too thin and be everywhere and be everything all at once. It's not possible, and you have to make time for yourself. Number two, on this list of ways to maintain your sanity, say no. Mean it and do not feel bad about it. You don't need to bake 48 homemade organic gluten-free cupcakes for the class party unless you actually want to do it, unless it brings you joy. Store bought is okay. Good enough is good enough. Say it again. Good enough is good enough. You need to set boundaries and stick to them. You're not letting people down. You're taking care of yourself, and that's the best way for you to take care of your family. Number three, my personal favorite delegate, like the badass Boss bitch, you are. Let your partner handle the teacher's gifts this year. No, they're not going to be a handcrafted cricket inscribed coffee mug with your kids'. Five highlights of the school year, unless that's what your husband's into doing. But he can do it or have your kids write a thank you note. When my son was in pre-K, he absolutely adored his teachers and I just had him make cards for them and they loved it, right? Like it doesn't have to something crazy and elaborate. You know, ask your friend to carpool trade favors with other moms around you outsource when you can. You don't have to do, do it all and handle it all on your own. This one number, this next one is hard for a lot of us. Number four is build in breathing room and protect it like it's your other child. Sprinting through the end of the year can leave you completely fried if you are not careful about it. So here's the move. Block off recovery time. Now. A quiet morning after the last day of school. A no plan Saturday and no plan. Saturdays do not mean you sit and clean or deep clean or pressure wash or whatever. A no plan Saturday means you just hang out and go wherever the wind may carry you, which could most likely be the couch and bravo. A guilt-free afternoon of napping and binge watching TV is so necessary to recharge. So you have to plan for it. If we sit and wait for time to appear out of a, a calendar that we keep jam packed with stuff, you're never gonna find it. You have to make the decision to take breaks. Number five, celebrate the small wins. If your kid makes it to the last day of school with their shoes on the right feet and a half packed lunch, that my friend is a victory. So celebrate showing up. Celebrate being there. Celebrate the act of getting there, not it being perfect. I just got my kids spring pictures and he looks like such a goober. He has a really bad haircut that he got. He's wearing a rainbow dinosaur shirt. And my husband didn't even realize that we paid for pictures, but here we are projects, you know, obviously we wanna teach our kids the value of deadlines and responsibility. Projects might get late and that's fine. Permission slips get lost also. Okay. Lunches might get weirder and weirder. We're currently living in a short term rental as we transition over to Minnesota. And today we didn't have lunch for my son's field trip, and I had to go to the store on the way to school and grab some stuff for lunch. But guess what? That was an adventure we got to do together. And it's okay. It's okay to not be living in this perfect, you know. Better Homes and Gardens, Oprah magazine, you know, HGTV style Mom life, that's not fucking reality, and I cannot emphasize that point enough. You are going to burn out. Your nervous system is gonna be fried. You're never going to be the mom you wanna be. If you don't start taking up space, if you don't start appreciating the fact like, you know what I thought on my feet this morning and we went and got a chocolate milk so he could take it on his field trip, and he was the happiest kid in the world because he got a store-bought chocolate milk, not one we made at home to bring to the sculpture garden. I'm proud of that. I'm proud of the days that my kids go to school with matching socks and their shirts on the right directions. That's a win, and we need to start acknowledging that hey, good enough is good enough, and my kids are happy. And the last thing that I want to bring up with you today, this is hard. Just like that sprint to winter vacation with the holidays and everything in hand. This season is gonna bring up a lot of feelings. Pride, sadness, grief. You're watching your kids grow up and you know the last day of kindergarten or the last day of senior year, that's a big deal. And every year you're watching them grow more and it's really bittersweet and you get to give yourself permission to feel it. Don't be embarrassed if you cry at kindergarten graduation. Cheer for your kid at that fifth grade track. Meet. Feel all the messy, beautiful emotions because that's part of surviving and processing this season as well. You don't have to muscle through it with a perfect little grin and your perfect bun and you little lemon leggings. You don't have to do it. You get to acknowledge that this is hard. We're all going through it together. I guarantee you. If at school pickup you mentioned like, whew, these last couple weeks have been a doozy. I don't know how we're gonna fit it all in. Someone else is going to agree with you. Some of the best conversations and the biggest bonding moments I've had with fellow moms has been about the things that are hard. I had a 25 minute conversation the other day about how Emine msms changed their packaging. And when it rained on Halloween, we all went home with a big glob of m and ms in our treat bags because none of us knew it. And our kids were disappointed because kids love m and ms. But I cherish those moments. And it's okay to not brag about everything all the time. It's okay to acknowledge that this is hard and that's why I'm here giving you a little pep talk of the five things to do to keep you. On the level as best we can. Let's go through'em one more time. Prioritize that calendar, like your life depends on it. Number two, say no and fucking mean it, and don't feel guilty about it. Number three, delegate. It might not be perfect. It might not be the way you do it, but you can't do it all. It's not possible. Number four, build in that breathing room. If you don't prioritize it, no one else will, and they'll take advantage of your time, and you will fill that calendar. You know yourself, you know you're gonna do it. Number five, celebrate those small wins. Go put that breathing room in your calendar right now, and then give yourself a high five because it's a big deal. All right? We're all doing the best we can with what we have. I want to leave you with one more takeaway. The end of the school year is not a test of your worth, your love, or your ability to be a mom. It is a season. It's supposed to be a little messy. You are allowed to lower your probably overly high perfectionist standards. You're allowed to take care of yourself no matter how chaotic things are, and you are allowed to just fucking survive. You don't always have to be the shining beacon of productivity and perfection, if that's what you need right now. You've got this. You don't need me harping on you over and over again about everything, and when you don't, I'm here. So until next time, remember, you are not alone and you deserve a little more me time. Now go take care of yourself. Hey, welcome to me time, minutes, your quick self-care boost and honest mom conversation in the middle of a busy week, because even a few minutes of me time can change everything. Let's dive in.