Time Off

Most people need time of their own, time they can dispose of without accounting to anybody else. This is easy for unattached people: all of their leisure time is available. Married people, and most especially parents, tend to limit themselves to leisure activities that the entire family unit will enjoy. Over time, this leads to feeling as though you don't have any self-determination left; you do only the things that your partner/children allow you to do.

I try to take (and to allow my husband to take) some time alone. Occasionally I go out alone to a movie that I want to watch and my husband doesn't. It's nice to be reminded that there's a "me" that exists apart from the "us".

Part of a potential PartnerPatternsLanguage