When You Want To Do It All

     Along with the goals set for the new year, comes the time constraints of a typical twenty-four hour day and a seven day week. Five of those days spent working forty plus hours, another chunk devoted to house work, weekly errands, taking care of kids and pets...less and less time is left for those things we actually want to do. 

    This year I want to run, paint, write, read, hike, bike, learn piano, learn another language, lose my COVID 30, race again, and maybe even date again--ha! I thought honestly about this today and it just overwhelmed me--how am I ever supposed to find the time? 

    Now, this time last year I was working almost sixty hours a week and stressed to the point of near nervous breakdown, so I'm very thankful to be back to a more reasonable forty-plus hour work week. And I already get up at three each day so I have time to run and workout in the morning before hopping on the computer and diving into email. Another bonus gained working from home: I save the time that would be spent uselessly commuting five days every week. Forty minutes back in my pocket each day. And yet I struggle to find the time for personal pursuits I want to enjoy and explore now that the stress of divorce and overwork are dissipating and I can see that light breaking through at the end of this long dark tunnel.

    But when I really broke it down, I saw that it wasn't as overwhelming as it seemed to be. Okay, I won't have an hour to devote to piano practice, but ten to fifteen minutes each day is very doable. Painting: as much as I'd love to sit for a full day and play, even on the weekends that isn't going to happen yet. But a half hour to an hour makes some significant progress, and writing, another half hour, forty minutes to put up a blog post, maybe twenty minutes to journal each night to reflect on the day--that's not asking too much. 

    As to the rest of my wanna-do's: hiking and biking have mostly halted with the drop in temperatures, learning a language doesn't have to happen until I have a good routine set in place with my other top three interests. Then maybe with the help of an app...or even an online course...I could make that happen. Running and streamlining my eating will help knock down the COVID 30, that doesn't really take up any time, just more commitment to healthier choices. Dating? Well, I still think I've got a long way to go with taking care of me before I'll be interested in paying attention to someone new.

    And today: I ran a 5k this morning. Did three loads of laundry. Cleaned the turtle tank. Called Mom in Florida. Had lunch, walked and read on the treadmill to hit my mileage and step goal for the day, practiced a bit on the piano, then sat down with a glass of red and my watercolors to chart out some different greens I can create from my pan palette, dabbled a little with my colored pencils as well. I might not have created a major masterpiece but enjoyed playing with the color and brushes and pencils. And now I've written a blog post. So, it may not be everything, but it's a very full, very satisfying day. And tomorrow's a holiday, so I get to do it all over again! 

    How do you fit the things into your day that you really want to do?



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

I Said Yes

Image
      There's an eye catching title, eh? Yes, I said Yes. No, not to a  relationship--heavens, no. I said Yes to me. It's amazing how easy it is to say yes to the things we really want to say no to because we were raised to be nice and not hurt other's feelings. Born people pleasers, we have difficulty with that little two letter word: no. Taking on a colleague's work while they're out on PTO when you're already buried under your own deadlines and work commitments. Saying yes to favors (lending your car or money or time that you really don't have to spare) because you worry about disappointing the other person or you drown yourself in guilt for not making yourself, funds, or vehicle readily available. And learning to stand up for yourself and protecting your boundaries is a great thing, we do not need to be everything to everyone all the time. But there's also a flip side to this conundrum: the knee jerk no to something potentially positive.     So, I am...
Read more

Fun with Fitness Challenges

Image
     I had been a Samsung Galaxy girl for as long as I'd owned cellphones and tablets. And I was hooked on their super cute fitness challenges that showcased animated worlds and races that were really fun and engaging. Then this year my kid converted me to IOS and I was sad to no longer be able to participate in the Samsung challenges. But  then last summer we indulged ourselves with Apple watches. Oh yeah, I'm a complete convert!     I am now addicted to closing all three rings every day and have to have perfect stand tallies-no missing blue dots on my line! But even better are the myriad badges you get to earn every week, every month, and then they throw in random challenges every now and then just to keep things interesting. Not missing my cute little Galaxy challenges quite as much anymore. And every new month's challenge is different than the previous, so you really can't get bored. Just look at these fun badges!     And, as a runne...
Read more

Cheat vs Treat

Image
    If you're like a lot of us, you're still waging war against the pandemic pounds. The holidays certainly didn't help either. The fifteen pounds I'd managed to drop this summer was quickly reduced to ten and it feels like I'm back at square one again. Weight loss can feel like a never ending battle and being fifty-plus seems to make it all the more difficult.     One trick a lot of programs offer is a 'cheat day' or 'cheat meal' but that can lead to a very slippery slope. You may KNOW you're not supposed to indulge in sugary treats or fatty fried fast foods but,  really, the word "cheat" implies that maybe those no-no's are allowed at least in small quantities from time to time. Hence, cheat! It doesn't feel like cheating if it isn't otherwise 'bad', right?     So, it occurred to me that maybe we need to refer to these indulgence days as Treat Days instead. 'Treat' has a more positive  connotation and you m...
Read more