This post was originally published on local author Tracy Cutchlow’s Zero to Five website.
Have you forgotten something today? Forgotten a piece of yourself, I mean. Some piece that was core, central, essential to you being who you are, but it slipped out of your arms as they 
overflowed with all those new pieces related to being a parent. And now you feel like something is seriously missing? Or something is wrong?
If so, I encourage you to spend some time over the next week thinking about what this thing is. And how exactly you might get a bit of it back into your life. Not in an “I’d like to get back to painting” kind of way. In an “I will ask my partner/friend/mom/retired neighbor/all of the above to play with my child for two hours every Thursday at 5 p.m. so I can set up my easel in this particular place I’ve chosen and paint” kind of way.
Specifics. Realistic ones.
I realize we can’t spend all weekend with watercolors or power tools or video games or concerts, or whatever it is, like we used to. That may not feel necessary anyway. I like to joke that, before kids, my husband and I chose hikes based on “How steep is it? How long is it? How awesome are the views at the top?” Now it’s “How flat is it? How short is it? How lovely is the lunch spot?” Not to mention “Will the drive home be perfectly timed for a nap?” But it’s all good. Our underlying need is just to spend time in nature.
My point is, when something important has gone missing from our lives, we can get a satisfying taste of it again. And we should.
What’s your plan? What, when, where, how. Share your ideas below with PEPS and Tracy, so we can all get some inspiration from each other.
About the Author
Tracy Cutchlow is the author of Zero to Five: 70 Essential Parenting Tips Based on Science. Parents magazine called it “the coolest–and easiest–book for new parents.” Tracy also edited the bestselling books Brain Rules and Brain Rules for Baby. As a journalist, Tracy worked for The Seattle Times. Her writing appears in publications from the Huffington Post to the Washington Post. You can find Tracy biking around Seattle and failing to persuade her preschooler to take a nap. Sign up for her weekly parenting tips at www.zerotofive.net.
