This post is in conjunction with TEMPUR® but all thoughts are my own.

Monday Morning

6 am: Hit snooze on the alarm.
6.10 am: Turn my alarm off.
6.15 am: Get up, brush teeth and get ready for work.
6.30 am: Turn off Olivia’s Alexa alarm and wonder why on earth she sets it as I watch her roll over and go straight back to sleep.
6.35 am: Go downstairs, put the kettle on, tidy up any mess from Sunday and/or load the washing machine.
6.45 am: Prepare that evenings meal so all I need to do when I get home is cook it.
7 am: Try to wake Olivia up.
7.05 am: Make sure all her uniform is next to her as she mumbles something about not wanting to get up (join the club).
7.10 am: Make breakfast.
7.15 am: The second attempt at getting Olivia up as I reiterate I need to leave in 25 mins.
7.20 am: Make our lunches for the day.
7.30 am: Make sure Olivia has everything she needs including PE kit.
7.40 am: Leave for the school run and pick up my niece on the way.
7.50 am: Drop the girls off at school.
7.55 am: Arrive at work for my 8-5 shift.
12 pm: Check on any blog emails, chase up work and/or outstanding payments, check on my VA clients, chat to friends via Whatsapp and eat lunch.
1 pm: Back to work.
5 pm: Leave work, exhausted.
5.10 pm: Arrive home to find Olivia and my niece in different rooms watching Netflix on their phones and playing Sims.
5.15: Make dinner.
6.30 pm: Clean up after the day and make sure the house is tidy before relaxing.
7 pm: Check in on the blog and social media and catch up with any emails received after my lunch OR go to a Zumba class if I got a space that week.
8-9 pm: Bed (yes, I do go to sleep early).

And Sleep!

When you list your day like this, it is crazy exactly how much we try to cram into each and every minute isn’t it! Not every day is like this for me, I have a part-time job, manage the blog and work with 3 VA clients, so every day is different but no less busy. From optician and doctor appointments to school functions and trips, parent’s evenings and making sure the uniforms and PE kits are clean and ready when you need them. There is much to think about and do all the time as a parent.

Being a single parent is non-stop. Trying to fit everything in and making sure you keep on top of everything can quite frankly be exhausting on your own. And if truth be known, come the evening most days, I am exhausted and longing for my bed. So when Tempur challenged me to look at different aspects of my life and compare my day-to-day life to the life of an astronaut, I was intrigued, to say the least.

TEMPUR® in Space.

Did you know that TEMPUR® was first created to cushion astronauts during lift-off? These days, TEMPUR® material is used to make mattresses and pillows that evenly distribute weight and pressure, ensuring a comfortable night’s sleep. Still, to this day, TEMPUR® material lies at the core of all mattresses and pillows and is still the only mattress product recognised by NASA and certified by the Space Foundation.

When it comes to sleep, TEMPUR® knows their stuff, but is my life really all that similar to the life of an astronaut?

Honestly, single parenting is a juggling act, there are so many things to do, to be done and to remember, it can be really hard and tricky to navigate at times and like an astronaut up on the space station, there is so much to do to keep things running well. Although I bet their schedule isn’t nearly half as exciting as mine! I know I would absolutely love the excuse of not being on the planet right now to try out the life of an astronaut in space!

I’m pretty sure NASA is in need of a caffeine dependant single mum who needs an excuse to get out of the school run, aren’t they? No? Fair enough!

Seriously though, from eating right, working out to stay fit and strong, to undertaking many different jobs and tasks day in and day out, my life has so many things in it that I need to keep on top of. Just like the men and women who make the journey up and into space to help us learn more about not only our own planet but also the universe around us.

Astronauts also perform many tasks throughout the day and just the same as a busy single parent, they need to get enough sleep to help them function each day. They get 8 hours for sleeping per night. I too prefer a minimum of 8 hours a night, maybe I am too lazy to join them? This means getting the correct mattress on your bed is essential to making sure you sleep as well as possible.

I do wonder what they do to help them fall asleep of a night because we all know they don’t spend hours scrolling through Facebook or Instagram like a lot of us do when we should be sleeping!

I love my sleep and I know and appreciate the value of getting a good night’s rest, just like NASA. We all need to make sure we are getting enough rest to be able to cope with the demands of day-to-day life in an ever-changing and evolving world. Whether on Earth or in Space, our bodies still work the same and function the same. We all need to be making sure we take care of ourselves to be able to take care of others, whether it be our children, family or anyone else.

Are there any aspects of your life that are similar to the life of an astronaut in space?