Descheduling & Making Time for Spontaneity

Beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean

Is it just me or does our caffeine addicted (I recently gave up caffeine), iPhone loving, over-scheduled, multi-tasking world seem to be moving a bit too fast at times? Not that each of those things don't have their place and time.  But sometimes I think that our collective need to for constant information, constant motion, and constant noise is just a distraction from our real life.  I have to constantly remind myself to stop multi-tasking, to focus, to be present in the moment, and to enjoy each moment fully.  One of the ways I try to accomplish this is by descheduling or as I like to call it 'making time for spontaneity'.

The biggest hurdle I had to overcome in descheduling was my own guilt over being a working mom.  It actually wasn't that big of a hurdle once I identified the problem.  I used to feel a bit guilty that I'm not home between 8 am and 5 pm on weekdays to play with my son and do all the fun mommy & me activities that it seems all other kids/moms get to do.  My way of compensating for this used to be cramming a bunch of activities into our weekends.  However, no one in our family enjoyed spending our weekends jumping from one activity to the next.  It just made us feel more tired and less relaxed.  We get a lot more out of just hanging out at home as a family, doing stuff around the house, working in the garden, playing in our sandbox, going on walks, riding bikes around town, playing at the park, going on treasure hunting adventures to the beach, and spending time with friends and family.  So we scaled our activities back.  I implemented a one structured kid activity per weekend rule (right now it's swimming).  Also we try to have one unscheduled day during the weekend dedicated to relaxation, fun, and of course a few chores here and there.  These always tend to be the most enjoyable and stress-free days of the weekend.

Are the ways that you deschedule or make time for spontaneity? I'd love to hear about them.