SOCIAL MEDIA

Friday, October 21, 2022

Getting the Groove Back

 Hello friends and happy Friday! I hope you've all had a nice week and a nice taste of fall wherever you are! Today's post is coming to you from a mom who saw the meme below this week and felt seen 😆:

I don't know about you, but life has felt exceptionally busy lately and I feel like a bit of a frazzled mess. I know I'm not alone out here! I am on a text message thread with some other moms in LG's class and we had an extra project come up this week-- every single one of us was like "I'm too busy for this right now!" 

 Some of the busyness is fun, but a lot of it is just getting caught up on life "stuff" that needs to be done. You know what I mean right? The never-ending laundry, dishes, yard work, random appointments, etc. As I sit here and type, I can think of NINE independent chores I need to do. Life for us right now feels like one big game of Chutes and Ladders.... every time we start getting ahead, we end up going down one of those big slides. Do you know what I mean?

Anyway, in an effort to stop feeling swamped by "stuff", I have decided to take action and hopefully get back into the groove of a less chaotic life (or at least get as close as possible to that as I can!). If you are feeling a little on the busy/overwhelmed/frazzled side lately too, maybe this will be a little motivation to you too! Here's my plan:


1. First and foremost: Stop saying yes to everything!!!!! By no means is this a revolutionary idea, but it is something I REALLY struggle with. As an enneagram 7, the Enthusiast, any time someone pitches an idea to me I am immediately like "oh that sounds fun! Count me in!" and then after I commit I think "oh snap, probably shouldn't have said yes to that." 

For example, they needed a substitute teacher at LG's school on the one day a week I had off, and I said yes. Was it fun? Yes. Was it nice to help the school out? Yes. But did I have other things I probably should have been doing? Absolutely. I need to really make sure that whatever I am saying yes to is going to be a good use of my time. 

2. Create a list and strive to check off at least 1 thing a day. I am usually pretty good about writing down all the things we need to do... it's the whole "doing them" part that gets problematic. 😊 The problem is that I wait until the weekends to start checking things off the list and by that time the list can feel overwhelmingly large. If I can chip away at the list a little bit at a time, it helps to make the tasks feel less overwhelming by the end of the week. 

Why have I been putting things off to the weekends you may wonder? This. Right. Here. 👇

3. On the days I am feeling very tired/unmotivated, set a timer for 15 minutes and do whatever I can. Let's be real, there are some days where you are just particularly exhausted and feel unmotivated to do anything. On those days, I have learned that setting a timer for 15 minutes and even just doing a little bit of work can be better than nothing. 

4. Don't forget to exercise. I know this sounds counterproductive. If I feel short on time, how is spending an hour-ish of my time exercising going to help? I know for me personally, when I have exercised my brain functions more clearly and I am able to be more efficient. I also have more energy and can move at a quicker pace. Not to mention it's healthy and a great way to manage stress. 

5. Let things go. As somebody who is a little type-A (okay, more than a little 😜), I struggle with just letting the unimportant things go. At the end of the day, just do the best you can and be happy with what you were able to accomplish.  

I sincerely hope that none of the rest of you are feeling like overwhelmed, frazzled messes too-- but if you are, maybe we can use each other as a little motivation to try get control of the chaos and get back into our normal groove?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend filled with FUN! I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for Friday Favorites. 


5 comments :

  1. Same! October has been crazy and I don't even have little kids at home. You are doing great! What can you delegate? Use grocery pick up or delivery. Ask for help! I had to say no to a lot when my kids were little. I bet it's even harder now bc there are ALL THE THINGS! Do a few errands/chores during the week so that your weekend is more open if you can.

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  2. Even with three nearly grown kids I feel this way at times; particularly about all the housework and groceries lately. I feel like I should just live at the grocery store I'm there so often and I don't get why suddenly that's happening. I used to shop once a week and we were fine so why are we out of everything mid-way through the week?? I can't figure it out. But I do find the days I don't exercise I get so much less done because I do feel so tired. I do think saying "no" more often is a huge one though.

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  3. Yes!! As someone who has a million and one things to do today (it's my son's birthday and we are having the party tomorrow, and I also have to work, from home thankfully) one of the things will be to work out! I keep a running to do list but I like the idea to make a conscious effort to cross at least one thing off per day. As well as the timer trick, you're right, you can get a lot done in 15 minutes!

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  4. I just sent my family a note to the group chat with our whole Sunday planned out by the hour. From church to basketball games to homework to laundry,....and trying to get these pumpkins carved...haha I feel like I'm constantly swimming upstream. I've learned to say no but still struggle with letting little things go. Hang in there! We're all in this together :)

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  5. OMG yes! Just October alone is crazy, and ALL the fun stuff happens. This year, I've added in being a photographer and my type-A personality is struggling having fun with my kiddo knowing the massive pile of editing I need to get done! Let alone all the home stuff/meals, etc! Right there with ya, mama!

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