I am married to a man, and that man and I have three children. He works full-time at our church, which means that he works many more hours than he's paid for. It's the name of the game. I work full-time as well, between contract accounting jobs and contract writing jobs. I also volunteer at my kids' school, attend a Boot Camp three days a week, and run three other days of the week. Because I like to take a dare, I'm training for my first half-marathon.
One comment that I get almost every day is "I don't know how you do it all!" Here's my secret: I don't. There are a million articles online that tell you how you can "achieve balance" and how you can "do it all" and how you can "make everything happen."
Please read that last paragraph while doing actual air quotes, because I did so while typing it.
It's simply not possible. Complete balance may be impossible, but your life doesn't have to be as chaotic as it could be.
Step One: Realize that your life will never be balanced or calm or easy. It's the truth, and it's quite freeing to admit it.
Step Two: Learn to say no. The more I do so with reasons why, the more I hear from people that they appreciate my honesty and the fact that I set a boundary.
Step Three: Wait until October. September is when everything starts again. School activities barf into your calendar. Our church doesn't start the kids' activities until October and we don't sign our kids up for extra-curricular activities in September unless we absolutely have to.
Step Four: Meal plan. Spending fifteen minutes to plan out your week saves you many hours of stopping at the grocery store, hundreds (I'm not kidding) of dollars, and buckets of stress.
Step Five: Check out once in a while. Drop the balls you're juggling, spend time recharging, and give zero [insert curse word here] cares about everything. You will never be caught up, life will never slow down, and your To Do list will keep on, keeping on. Just walk away. Your sanity needs it.
Anything I missed, lovelies?
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