Essentialism for the highly sensitive homeschool mom5 min read

Introduction

As a highly sensitive homeschool mom, we wonder that you might be probably nodding your head right now. Clearly, we haven’t yet reached the conclusion of what true “essentialism” means.

But let’s try to understand what the dictionary says. And according to official Dictionary.com, essentialism means “absolutely necessary, or something which is indispensable. In simple words, it refers to focusing only on certain things and thereby letting everything else go. Let’s refer to an example for this- If it isn’t a definite yes for a thing or two, then it must be a definite no.

Let’s distinguish between the two!

But what is really important for a highly sensitive mom is to understand the mere difference between the “seen” essentials and “unseen” essentials. Just remember that both of these essentials will drain your limited energy and that too very fast.

The former factor is comparatively easier to predict than the second one, which we can not always anticipate.

Seen Essentials include

This category includes all the basic stuff of your child’s life as well as your top priorities as a mom:

• It is highly essential for you to take care of the meal prep and plan for the rest of the meal plan- breakfast, lunch, dinner
• Take care of the most important basics of your child’s Homeschool/learning routine (Now we can not enlist every single detail in this point as it varies a lot. It will depend upon the fact whether you are having a good or a bad Homeschool day) Some of such activities include- Appointments, outings, lessons that you might have intentionally chosen for this life season, dishes as well as laundry.
• Any other work essential which you feel is very important other than the ones mentioned above.

Unseen Essentials include

• How to accomplish your little ones’ emotional needs
• You need to take care of your own essential needs as well
• your partner’s abstract feelings and emotions
• And so on–we are sure that you can certainly enlist other points as well

If you are mentally prepared for your busy day, then it is very important to not neglect the “unseen essentials” as well. These factors will also be called on to deal with in the future. Even if you manage to handle all the important moments in the morning quite well, as a highly sensitive person it will take a lot out of you in the process. So be ready!

You definitely need a technique to show yourself in each moment whether something or activity is truly essential or not.

And as you might have prayed, we are here with a list of questions and answers that could serve as your compass- a base of direction:

What’s the deadline?

Here we need to decide what the actual guideline for determining “Essential” as a highly sensitive Homeschool mom is. So keep reading and planning

1. Ask yourself: Is this activity absolutely essential right now or can it be avoided?

You might wonder what“This” refers to in the above instance. It is the task that you’re about to do.

Whereas “Absolutely essential” will vary according to the type of day your kid is having and what must be your top priorities for him/her.

“Right now” is one of the most crucial facts in order to answer any questions. We understand that a range of things will eventually be absolutely essential, but at the current moment, they can surely be neglected. Make a list of the important ones.

2. Answer yourself: If your answer is YES, then just do that thing!

If your answer is NO, then the next question that you must ask is- Do I have all the energy required as well as desired to it right now?

3. Again if your answer is NO, then simply don’t do it.

On the other side, if your answer remains the same i.e.YES.

Ask yourself again- Though I have the required energy and desire too. But should that be conserved for something even more essential that you know is coming later today?

4. If your answer turns out to be NO, then do it!

But in case, it’s a YES again, then simply don’t do it.

Just look at your day to see where you went wrong.

As your morning chore begins, this is the time when you start to sort your kids’ fall clothing.

Just ask yourself- Is this absolutely essential right now?

The answer could have been: No. It might be essential sometime soon, but not for now. It can be done later on.

The next question as discussed, according to the list above, could have been: Do you have the energy and desire to do it right now?

Answer: Yes, it feels to be done now! If you feel to be “in the mood” and like getting a start on that certain job for a few minutes, then do it.

My next question, according to the list above, should have been: Even though I have the energy and desire to do this right now, do I need to conserve that energy for any other activity?

Likewise, you need to go on with the list, and answer every question asked in a sequence. The above mentioned sample was just for your reference. Just do what you feel like.

Conclusion

We bet this list of questions will be super-helpful, especially if you are a highly sensitive mama?! But what we think is that it’s even easier to understand the situation as a visual– Therefore it is recommended to have a printable reminder made for all of your kids. Just print it out and stick it somewhere where you’ll easily be able to see it as your current day goes by– just make sure to observe it regularly and point it out in the right direction.

Time to take your life back from the rushing crowd a bit. You must note to guard your precious and limited energy, save it for what truly matters for your day. Take a step back and refocus on your energy.