The Principle of Filling Your Cookie Jar -- Part 1

I'm just beginning to realize the importance of “filling your cookie jar." Each of us needs some time to pursue our own interests.

In the past, I thought of these times as selfish, but I'm realizing they just help you have a well to draw from. My mentor's kids love it when she fills her cookie jar because she comes back refreshed; they say she doesn't control them, and lets them play more when she's filled.

When kids get older, they can give back more significantly. But when they're young, they need a lot of help and attention; they depend on us for everything. Life ebbs and flows; your little kids are the ebb and they need you, their mother, to constantly be the flow. Taking time to keep yourself together is really important or you'll get burned out.

Filling my cookie jar could look like having someone watch my girls while I paint or go to a dance/workout class. I could get a massage or I could play piano. Even a solo walk, asking for guidance from God or a drive with a friend to just talk could fill me. For Dan, it would probably be skiing or mountain biking or hiking or lunch out with a friend.

When I asked the ladies at the commonwealth school, "what is your favorite way to fill your cookie jar?" They said...

Scripture study

See a scary movie with a friend

Vacation at the beach without the kids for a weekend

Exercise

Read a book you love

What do you say?

Image from anthropologie