When life gets hectic are you equipped with the tools to make the best of it? Or do you fall out of balance? I must admit I still struggle with this.
When life hands me a lot to do in a short amount of time I tend to become overwhelmed, and I often forget things. Since it is April 15 when I’m writing this, I can relate to that. When I did our farm taxes, I would often spend several weeks catching up on the bookwork so I could complete the taxes. The only way I can do this is to focus on only doing it. When I stopped to do anything else, like fix a meal for my family, I had a hard time chaining myself back to my desk. And maybe that attitude was part of the problem – I tend to refer to it as paperwork hell and put it off as long as possible.
Some Things Aren’t Worth the Possible Consequences
In a past life, I taught Computer Graphics Technology at a technical college. When I first started, I would stay up until the wee hours of the morning to finish my lessons. I was driving about 50 miles to the college, and I had to be there by 6:30 am. It was in the Mountain Time Zone, and I was in the Central, so I had to leave home at 6:30 am to get there on time. There was a day that I had to stop at least three times, so I didn’t fall asleep. I decided at that point that there was nothing worth leaving my children without a mother and quit staying up so late. I would work to get my lessons done on the weekends or breaks. And I often didn’t take a lunch break at work because I was working.
This was not good for my life at home either. I can remember coming home and wondering why I had so much trouble with the noise the boys made – they were 13, 10, and 3. My classroom was fairly quiet, and I still couldn’t tolerate the noise. I was not making the transition from teacher to mother very well.
I now know part of this was due to me being an introvert. I need time alone to recharge and the time spent in the vehicle wasn’t enough. Then when I started going with another instructor who made my drive only about 20 miles I had less alone time. My time was when I would go into my office and work on my lessons and that was after the boys went to bed.
It’s a Work in Progress
Learning Gestalt has helped, and I still become overwhelmed. I talked to a realtor in Oakley about selling the house there on Friday. She asked me to get back to her as she was going to work on the contract over the weekend. We had discussed a price, and I was to check with my brothers and mom about it. She messaged me Sunday evening to see what they thought. I had completely forgotten about checking with them because I had an event Saturday morning, then went to see mom, and John came up Sunday to do his taxes here, so I was here to help.
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It’s a Mad World.
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Onward!
