Tag Archives: scheduling

Next Month Will Be A Bit Of A Fresh Start (or What Is Coming For This Blog)

Posted on April 28, 2023 | 1 comment

Last week, I wrote about how I was debating again about reducing how frequently I write blog posts. It wasn’t the first time I was thinking about doing that, but for some reason, it felt different to me. I’m not sure what is making this time different, but I’ve just had a lot of thoughts and reflections on how I’m spending my day each day and what I’m sharing with the world.

I’m so glad that I have shared a lot of things here and I know that it has helped other people, but I also feel weird sometimes knowing that I’m out doing something and I will be writing about it later. I do try to keep things private as far as other people go, so I don’t usually say names unless that person has given me the ok to do so. And I don’t share a lot of details that others tell me because those aren’t my stories to tell. But it’s still a weird feeling being on a date or something and knowing that will make a good blog post and not feeling like I can tell my date about it. And then there is always the fear that they will find my blog and see the posts I’ve written about them. It’s not just with dates, doing things with my friends usually have become blog posts and I don’t like that I always have that mindset. It takes me out of experiencing things as they are happening and makes me think about how I can craft the story I want to tell. Even with some things about my health, I don’t necessarily want to share everything. It’s not because I’m ashamed or gatekeeping anything, but health issues really can vary from person to person so I don’t want to say something that happened to me and have others feel like that’s how it is for everyone.

And when I’m struggling with what I want to write, I feel like I have to take more and more from my life and turn them into posts. Even if I wasn’t planning on writing about something, if I’m really stuck for what I want to write I feel like that’s the only option I have. That pressure hasn’t been horrible, but it does happen from time to time, and I have to decide if that idea is worth writing about, if it’s interesting, or if I’m sharing something that I really want to keep private for now. I don’t necessarily regret any of the posts I’ve written, but I do feel like there are some that I don’t really love. Writing 5 days a week for over 10 years is a lot and my life really isn’t that interesting. I do have some interesting days, but to come up with that many posts means that there are a lot of boring or repetitive posts.

And after I wrote that post last week, the idea of changing my post frequency really just stuck with me. I normally write a post about thinking of doing that and then it leaves my brain. Almost like I just needed to put it out there and then I’m fine. But this time, I couldn’t get the idea out of my mind. And it doesn’t help that I really don’t have anything planned for a while for posts outside of my Monday workout recaps.

So I’ve decided that for May, I want to see if I feel comfortable writing less frequently. I’m torn between wanting to have 2 or 3 posts a week, but it will likely be one of those. And my plan is to still do a workout recap on Mondays and then I’ll do either 1 or 2 other posts during the week. I’m not sure which day or days I’ll post the other ones. It may depend on what I have to write about.

As much as I feel like this is the right move, it’s hard not to think that somehow I’m failing because I take a lot of pride in the fact that I’ve written 5 days a week for over 10 years. But at the same time, the person I was 10 years ago or even 3 years ago is different from who I am today. When I started this blog, I couldn’t have even imagined that I’d still be writing over a decade later. So the ideas I had for myself back then don’t have to be what I hold myself to now.

I also know this might not be the right move for me and I might change my mind. But I want to give it a try and see if maybe I will have a bit less stress since I won’t be spending as much time thinking of ideas and writing. If it works, then I’ll continue with the new plan until I think I need another change. If I hate writing less often, then I can go back to my old ways. This change doesn’t have to be permanent, but I do think it’s a good move going forward.

And no matter what ends up happening with this blog and the frequency of posts, I am so proud that I was able to maintain this schedule for as long as I did. It was a real challenge for me at first since being so public was foreign to me. But for a lot of the struggles I went through over the last decade, having this outlet to write out my feelings has really benefitted me. And I think even with less frequent posts, I’ll still be able to have that same benefit for myself.

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Default Thumbnail8 Years In (or Another Blog Anniversary) Default ThumbnailAlways Wondering About The Future Of This Blog (or Not Sure If It’s Time For A Change) Default Thumbnail9 Years Of Blogging (or Just Keep Writing) Default ThumbnailGoing Out Because I Blog (or What Came First?) Default ThumbnailI Keep Hitting Little Moments Of Writer’s Block (or Not Sure What To Say) Default Thumbnail5 Years Old (or My Blog Is A Kindergartner)

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Busier Work Days (or Continuing To Take On More Responsibility)

Posted on April 12, 2023 | Comments Off on Busier Work Days (or Continuing To Take On More Responsibility)

Since I started my main day job in December 2020, a lot of my job has changed. I started part-time and moved into full-time. I started with solely doing direct client communication and slowly shifted into spending a few hours each day with direct communication and then the rest of the time doing other projects and tasks. And eventually, that shifted into no direct client communication outside of very specific messages I sent and almost completely focusing on projects.

Most of the projects I’ve focused on have been regarding managing our client records. This has a lot of different components to it, but I do tracking for clients from the time they sign up until the time they cancel. And there are a lot of things to track during that time and I feel like what we track has only increased recently. This might be because before this was my main focus, nobody had the time to do this work. So it’s something that we probably needed to do for a while but never had the ability to do. Some of these tasks can take a lot of time because I’m going back through a few years of past data to update our systems, but I know it will be worth it for us as a company when it’s done. And once I finish the old data, it will be pretty easy to update each month going forward.

Earlier this year, my manager reached out to me to let me know that they wanted to add some additional responsibilities to my role. This process has taken a bit longer to get set up than expected due to some unexpected things with work that took up more time, but it’s finally starting to be in the works. I’ve had a few training sessions to learn the new tasks I will be taking over, but the work won’t be my responsibility for another month or so. I also will be taking over a few other tasks that a co-worker was doing before but they have left the company. Many of those tasks were things we were working on together, so it’s not a huge change for me other than I’ll be working on them alone.

I remember pre-pandemic when my main job was my box office job and I would spend a lot of time reading or doing other things while I waited for the phone to ring. I know it sounds weird to be doing other things while I’m being paid for work. But I could work a 7-hour shift and only have a handful of calls. So there would be several hours where I was doing nothing and I needed to do something to fill my time. And yes, it was nice to get paid to essentially do nothing at times, but I did get bored quite often. I don’t think a lot of people realize how boring it is to just sit and stare at a screen all day and not really do much.

And now, I’m pretty busy for the entire time that I’m working at my main job. It can get hectic and I have to balance a bunch of projects at once sometimes, but at least I have something that is taking up my day each day. Time does go by faster when I’m busy, so that is nice. I don’t have as much time to do silly things as I did before, but that’s ok. I know I’m still very lucky with my job because I get to work from home and I don’t have a lot of issues that many of my other friends have said their jobs have. I work with people who understand this is a day job and not my entire life. If I have an audition or something else that is a conflict, it’s not a big deal like it’s been at other jobs. And even with my new, busier schedule, I don’t think it’s overwhelmingly busy. I do get stressed when there are a lot of things that need to be done at the same time, but it also isn’t life or death if I have to ask for an extension.

I’m sure I’ll figure out a new groove with work once I fully take on these new tasks and I’ll have some days that are crazier than others. But I’m excited to be continuing to work my way up at this job and have more opportunities to do some good work. Even with it just being a day job, I do take pride in what I do and make sure I do the best of my ability. And I’ll have more chances to do that now and to make sure that I make my mark with the company.

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Default ThumbnailContinuing With Positive Work Days (or Sometimes Speaking Up Is Necessary) Default ThumbnailFully Using My Work Time (or Having A Job Where I Feel Productive) Default ThumbnailWork Begets Work (Old Bosses Possible New Jobs) Default ThumbnailMaking Busy Days Busier (or I Guess I Like To Maximize Only Certain Days) Default ThumbnailI Got To Practice My Monthly Challenge Early This Month (or Still Working On Not Worrying About Job Things) Default ThumbnailGearing Up For Another Temp Job (or At Least It’s More Work)

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One Busy Week And One Unscheduled Week (or I Guess This Is Balance)

Posted on April 7, 2023 | Comments Off on One Busy Week And One Unscheduled Week (or I Guess This Is Balance)

Last week for me was a bit of a busy week. I had some really fun things that I got to do and I was around a lot of people. It felt like a week I would have had before the pandemic. And I was surprised that I wasn’t feeling burnout after being so social since that’s something I’ve experienced before. I was just living my life and loving having things to do and being around others. But I guess my new way of balancing is having one week on and one week off because this week has been the exact opposite.

I knew this week might be a tough one for me because I was expecting to have my pain and nausea kick in. And it did do that right after I got home from Santa Barbara (I was so glad that I wasn’t feeling horrible while I was with my family). And this month, it has been extremely bad. I have been taking all the medications that I have available and it hasn’t been taking the edge off. I’ve been working a lot from my bed because it’s uncomfortable to sit up at my desk for too long. And I’ve been using my heat pad so much that I’ve been turning on my air conditioning even though it’s not hot out, I’m just getting overheated from having the heating pad on me for so many hours in the day.

I’m glad I didn’t have anything really scheduled for this week because I just wouldn’t have been up for doing it. And I’ve also been exhausted so I would probably be tired if I were doing something and not enjoying it the way I should. As much as I’ve been trying to get enough sleep each night, I’m not sleeping well and I can see that in the app I use to track my sleep. I’m tossing and turning all night and I feel like I’m dragging all day. It’s not that I’m going to bed too late, I’m just not sleeping when I should be.

I know that this week is not necessarily normal for me. I also know that every month I can have a week or two like this. It’s always just frustrating and annoying when they are as bad as this week has been so far. I don’t have a lot of motivation to do stuff, so I have to put my focus on doing things that I have to do like working. But anything outside of my required things each day seems like too much effort. I’m trying to not be upset with myself for acting like this because clearly, my body has needed this week to not be a social one. But when I was so happy last week with how being out in the world again made me feel, this can feel a bit depressing.

I don’t have any plans for this weekend yet, but I also don’t want to make any plans until I know how I feel. I might need this weekend to rest and relax or I might be craving being social again and will make plans at that point. It’s so hard to know what I’ll want to do when I don’t know how I’ll be feeling. And I also worry because I could be feeling ok one moment and then I start experiencing really bad nausea again. So it can be better to lay low instead of making plans and having to cancel them. And hopefully, it won’t be that much longer before I feel ok again and I can get back to trying to make some fun plans.

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Default ThumbnailMaking Busy Days Busier (or I Guess I Like To Maximize Only Certain Days) Default ThumbnailSeeing Friends In Random Places (or Unscheduled Hangouts) Default ThumbnailBusy Workout Week (or Maybe Overdoing It A Bit) Default ThumbnailIt’s Another Short Post Type Of Week (or Sorry About This) Default ThumbnailBeing Social And Out And About When In Pain (or Of Course This Would Happen When I Am A Bit Busier) Default ThumbnailNot Much To Write About This Week (or Busy But Not Doing Much)

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A Long Short Week (or Ready For The Weekend)

Posted on February 24, 2023 | Comments Off on A Long Short Week (or Ready For The Weekend)

It seems like when I have an extra day off of work because of a holiday, that somehow makes the week seem longer. I don’t know if that is because I usually use that extra time to get more things done than I normally would or if I just feel off because I mix up what day it is. But it seems to really hit me hard and I feel like I need to recover more from a short week than a long week.

I know that I am also still probably used to having Mondays off from when I had my old job, but I should be used to this schedule by now. And when I get a Monday off now, I get to have 2 days without work instead of just 1. It doesn’t always feel like I just have 1 day off a week since I only work 3 hours on Saturdays, but I still have to wake up early in order to work. I just get to have extra time to be lazy or do other things after work.

I know that this short week also was busy with a lot of things. Over the weekend, I drove to and from Santa Barbara. I have done that drive a bunch, but it’s still at least 3 hours of driving in a day. Maybe I had more endurance for driving when I used to commute to work, but now it seems like it’s a decent drive. I do keep myself entertained by making sure I have good podcasts to listen to, but it’s still a good chunk of time. I also had my parents here and even though I don’t have to necessarily entertain them, I still try to be a good host when they are here even if we are just meeting for dinner and doing work around my house like we did this time. And hanging up things on my walls and doing all the house projects on Monday made that day seem pretty busy and not a normal day off.

I’m glad it’s Friday even though I still have work tomorrow. But I’m ready to have a bunch of hours when I can relax and just get things back in order. I still am catching up on housework from when I was sick, so I want to get that done. I also have a few more things to put away after all the projects we did earlier in the week. But I also want to make sure I take time to rest and relax since it will be Monday morning before I know it.

I originally had some plans for this weekend, but they were canceled due to the big storm we are supposed to have. I’m not upset about not having plans since I probably shouldn’t have made them in the first place. I would prefer to not be out in the rain unless I really have to. And if bad weather is what I needed to remind me that I should take it easy this weekend, then I guess that’s not a bad thing.

Hopefully, I can really take some time to get things and myself back to normal before Monday and I have to be back to a busy work week. And if I don’t get as much done but I get more time to relax, then I’ll consider that a good thing too. As much as I know I need to get some things done in my place this weekend, the bigger focus should be resting so I can be back to my full energy soon. And nothing that is on my list of things to do this weekend can’t wait until later, so I won’t allow myself to stress about what I need to do if that’s going to prevent me from resting.

And even though next week will be a full work week and I could easily be more exhausted by the end of the week, hopefully taking the time this weekend to rest will have me ready to go and I won’t be as tired as I have been this week.

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Default ThumbnailShort Weeks Can Feel Really Long (or I’m Glad It’s Almost The Weekend) Default ThumbnailHaving Another Lazy Weekend (or Trying Not To Feel Like I Missed Out) Default ThumbnailLack Of Plans (or A Lazy Weekend) Default ThumbnailShort Weeks Feel Extra Stressful (or I’m Almost Through This Week) Default ThumbnailTime For A Short Christmas Post (or I Hope You Have A Great Holiday Weekend) Default ThumbnailJust A Normal Weekend For Me (or Lazy Days Are Surprisingly Busy)

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So Many Meetings (or I Can’t Do Everything)

Posted on January 13, 2023 | Comments Off on So Many Meetings (or I Can’t Do Everything)

Maybe it was because this week was the first full work week of the new year or maybe there’s no reason for it, but this week I had so many different meetings I was supposed to be a part of. Every single day, I had at least one meeting on my schedule. Some of these were for work, some were for acting, and I also had an HOA meeting. And because there were so many meetings and I had to make sure I didn’t neglect other parts of my life, I just couldn’t make it all work.

Of course, my work meetings took priority. There is a lot going on right now so I’ve been a part of various meetings to plan and discuss things. Some of these meetings were planned in advance and some were only planned a few minutes before it was supposed to start. I’m grateful my job is mindful of my time and when I put in my schedule when I’m not available, so these all worked within my regular work hours. I know that being a part of some of these meetings is a sign of trust that the executive team has in me and shows my seniority within the company, so I didn’t take it lightly when I was added to a meeting. I did a lot of listening and not as much talking since some of these meetings were mainly higher-ups and I was there to either add a little bit more information or just to hear what is coming ahead.

We also had our belated work holiday party which was a Zoom meeting this past week. That was fun and we had different competitions such as best cocktail/mocktail and best Zoom background. I did make a fun background, but I didn’t win this time. But that’s ok since I won for Thanksgiving.

Also on my schedule this week was an HOA meeting for my condo. This isn’t something I have to go to, but I want to attend as many as I can so I can know what’s going on. Since this meeting is in the evening after most people are done with work, I was easily able to add it to my schedule. And since we just changed HOA management companies recently, I really wanted to hear what everyone else was saying. I haven’t noticed a huge difference with the new management company, but I haven’t had to do much through them since the renovation. And it’s always good to hear what is happening with the HOA dues and what things are being considered. There wasn’t too much discussed in the meeting, but there are some things coming up that I’m aware of now. Mainly dealing with the recycling and upcoming compost (which is required now for us) as well as some possible changes to the equipment in the gym. They also discussed that the roof is in good condition which is important with all the rain. I wasn’t too worried about the roof, but it was good to hear that I really don’t need to worry.

But the meetings I had to be ok not attending were some union/acting meetings that I had on my schedule. I really was looking forward to these meetings and they had been on my calendar for a while, but then other things came up that I couldn’t get out of or had to prioritize such as my work meetings. I know that this is a normal thing that so many people deal with, but it was still frustrating when I worked hard to try to attend meetings that were planned in advance. But I know that people understand when something comes up like this or if someone had to miss a meeting due to an emergency or being sick. But I still didn’t like it.

Having a week like this past week isn’t normal for me and I’m glad it’s not since having so many meetings can be stressful and overwhelming. But I made it through the week with only a few missed meetings and I know for the next few weeks my meetings will be much more spread out so this won’t be something I should have to deal with again for a while.

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Default ThumbnailStill Learning More About Being A Homeowner (or Observing Another HOA Meeting) Default ThumbnailMissing Some Union Meetings (or Even Virtual Meetings Don’t Guarantee I Can Go) Default ThumbnailMore Virtual Union Meetings (or Hopefully We Will Be Back To In-Person Meetings Soon) Default ThumbnailMy First Real HOA Meeting (or This Felt Like A Union Meeting) Default ThumbnailMaking Sure I Make It To Union Meetings (or Sometimes I Can’t Help My Schedule) Default ThumbnailLots Of Virtual Meetings (or Virtual Union Meetings)

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Still Setting Myself Up For A Good Year (or Transitioning From One Monthly Challenge To Another)

Posted on January 5, 2023 | 1 comment

My monthly challenge last month was to do what I needed to do in order to have a good 2023. This involved several different things, but the main ones I focused on were around setting up my living space for success. This included going through my clothes to see what I could get rid of and going through my kitchen to take an inventory and make sure I don’t have anything expired.

I know this wasn’t too crazy of a monthly challenge, but I’m glad I did it because sometimes the simplest things are the things you seem to put off the most. I really needed to do these things and I’m happy I had a push to do them. Even though I went through a lot of my clothes when I moved, there were still so many things I didn’t need and were taking up space. Since I want to redo my closet and I’m looking for a new dresser, getting rid of things I don’t need will help me figure out how to set up my clothing storage. And going through the stuff in my kitchen was very helpful too. Since I’m trying to cook more, I really don’t want to think I have a spice in my cabinet only to discover when I’m about to use it that it’s expired. I know that not all expired spices are bad, but I don’t want to use something that could make the food I make taste off. I still have more that I want to go through in my kitchen since I know that I have other things that may have gone bad, but at least I got through the things I’m expecting to use more frequently.

After getting some things set up for the new year, I wanted to continue that trend with my monthly challenge for January. This is a variation of something I’ve done before, but my challenge this month is to create a good weekly schedule for myself to get certain things done. What this means to me is to create a schedule that will help me figure out when I should do certain weekly errands, what days might be best for different cleaning tasks, and what days are best to try to cook. I know that doing this will help me not only stay on top of the regular things I need to get done, but it will make it easier for me to find where I do have free time to do other things.

The only regular task I’m good about doing on a schedule is doing laundry. I used to do laundry every Sunday, but now I do it every Saturday. I rarely have to do laundry other times, but now that I have my own washer and dryer I do sometimes do non-clothing laundry on other days. But having that routine makes things easy since I don’t have to think too much about when I can set aside time to make sure I have clean clothes each week. But I want to feel that way about other things that need to be done regularly like vacuuming and mopping. I know for some things like cleaning my bathroom and dusting, need to be done more frequently so it might not be as easy to schedule.

And in the same way, knowing what days I have free time after work to cook will help me plan what to make and what groceries to get each week. I also like knowing when I’ll have leftovers so I have easy things to make for lunch or get ready for dinner. I don’t always plan out leftovers well when I have them, but this will almost be a way to do some meal planning with less effort. If I know I’m cooking on a Monday and will have 3 meals of leftovers, I will know when I need to cook again or when I might have to have something easy to make. I also can use this planning to start stocking up my freezer with leftovers again, which I haven’t done much since I moved. All of this will help me not feel like ordering food because I should have options available for me.

I’m not sure if there are other things I want to figure out for a weekly schedule, but I feel like these are good things to start with. And as this month goes on, I guess I’ll see how it goes and if it works out to do this idea with more in my life. The more that I can get into a routine where I don’t need to think too much about it, the better.

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Default ThumbnailFirst Monthly Challenge Of The Year (or Setting Up For The Year And Self-Improvement) Default ThumbnailAlmost Through A Year Of Monthly Challenges (or Picking A Good Challenge For November) Default ThumbnailA Failed Monthly Challenge (or I’m Possibly Going To Fail Again This Month) Default ThumbnailAn Isolation Monthly Challenge (or Just Trying To Keep Things Going) Default ThumbnailDecember Monthly Challenge (or Wrapping Up For The Year) Default ThumbnailTaking A Month To Reset (or This Doesn’t Really Feel Like A Monthly Challenge)

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This Month Feels Like It’s Already Done (or I’m Not Going To Get All The Things Done)

Posted on December 9, 2022 | Comments Off on This Month Feels Like It’s Already Done (or I’m Not Going To Get All The Things Done)

I know that December just started, but at the same time, it feels like it’s almost done. I had a lot of things that I wanted to get accomplished this month and I’m already starting to wonder if I’ll have the time to get them done. I’m sure I’m overreacting and I’ll be able to get things done, but since some are time sensitive I know that I probably will have to accept that some things will either need to be done later than normal or just not done at all.

I think part of the problem for me has been that I haven’t been feeling well except for a few days. This is mainly due to the side effects of my medication, but I do think it’s getting better. I’m still having a lot of side effects most of the week, but at least this week it seems like the end of the week is better than it was last week. It could just be in my imagination, but I’m trying to believe that I’m going to not have to deal with side effects as long as some people have. I know it will still affect part of my week each week for a while, but if things do get better that will help me to find some more free time to get things done.

I also have an unexpectedly crazy week with work next week. I can’t get into too many details, but I’m helping to cover some work that needs to be done that normally isn’t a part of my tasks. And this work will require extra hours and potentially working at odd hours. I am going to be paid more because this will require me to work more hours than I do right now, but I know that the limited free time I have now will be even more limited next week and possibly the week after. Fortunately, this will be a one-time thing, so I won’t have to worry about this being a part of my regular life.

And with the holidays coming up, I feel like that limits when things can be done because I have to work around things being closed on days that I would typically go to do them. Also, some of the things I want to get done are connected to the holidays and I don’t want to send things to people late. I have had something I needed to mail for 2 weeks and I just haven’t had the free time during the hours the post office is open to go and do it. I’m hoping I can find some time this weekend after work, but it depends on how crazy things get since the post office has limited Saturday hours.

I have a feeling that the week between Christmas and New Year’s will feel like it’s not as fast since it’s always a weird week. But if I want to do things like get holiday cards out, I try to do them before the holidays start. But this year, I think that’s going to have to be something that is late since I haven’t even started to design the postcards that I want to send out. I know it’s not a big deal if they are mailed in January versus December, but I really thought until this week that I had plenty of time to get it done, and then I realized that I really don’t.

I don’t want to end this year feeling stressed about getting everything done, so I’m really going to work on prioritizing things and seeing what I feel better about putting off a bit longer. And I might end up surprising myself and actually getting more done than I expected. I have 3 weeks left this month and I know that means that so much can happen and change. But at the same time, I do need to recognize that the last 3 weeks have potential issues with me being able to do everything that I planned and I want to be prepared for that so I’m not disappointed if that ends up being my reality.

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Default ThumbnailOver A Month On Vyvanse (or A Meeting With My Therapist) Default ThumbnailEnjoying A Bit Of A Half Week (or This Week Is Always Odd) Default ThumbnailStaying Calm In The Crazy (or Is This Month Over Yet?) Default ThumbnailSometimes It Feels Like One Thing After Another (or Having To Miss Things For My Own Good) Default ThumbnailFeeling Useful Feels Good (or I Need To Be Productive) Default ThumbnailThe Longest Week (or Having A Regular Work Week Again)

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Resets And New Adventures (or Always Working To Improve My Life)

Posted on October 4, 2022 | Comments Off on Resets And New Adventures (or Always Working To Improve My Life)

Happy October! I feel like I say this every month, but it seems like time is flying by so quickly! I feel like we just started September and now it’s over. And I know before I know it, it will be the new year. I think having this feeling is one of the reasons I’m glad I set monthly challenges for myself. It gives me something to focus on accomplishing so the time just doesn’t slip by.

For September, my challenge was to do daily resets of my home. I had noticed that I was putting things off and saying to myself that I could just do it in the morning. But of course, I never did it the next day and some tasks were just not getting done in a timely manner. And because my condo is much bigger than my last place, it was easier to not see the mess that might have been left. For example, I could leave things in the sink and not see them compared to before when if I left something in the sink it basically made the sink unusable. And it was easy to use the excuse that I was still figuring out where I want things to be to not put away something I might have used. So I wanted to try to reset my home as much as I could each day so I felt like I started fresh in the morning.

I wasn’t perfect at all and there were still plenty of days when I wasn’t putting away all my dishes or leaving things for the next day. But I did make a much more conscious effort to be better about this. I also worked harder on finding places for some of my things. I’m still working on a list of things I need to get more organized, like ways I can organize under my kitchen and bathroom sink. And I know once I get those things it will be a little easier. But even without being perfect, I did notice a difference in how I felt in the morning when things weren’t still needing to be done and it felt like I was starting from neutral in the morning.

After working last month on getting a good reset system down in my home so I could feel like each day was a new day, for October I want to mix things up a bit more in my life. This month, I want to make an effort to try to do some new things or get out of the rut that I’m currently dealing with. I have a pretty set routine for weekdays. I go to the gym in the morning, work all day, and then after work I’m usually just sitting at home and trying to relax from my day. I feel like I’m a bit stuck since each week goes by and I don’t have a lot of variety in my life. I try to do things on weekends, but I work on Saturdays and on Sundays, I’m normally getting ready for the next week.

I feel like before the pandemic, I wasn’t in quite as bad of a rut. I know I was not doing as much as I could, but there is a big difference between being done with work at 3pm versus 5 or 6pm. When I was done at 3, I felt like I still had my afternoon and evening ahead of me and I could go out and do something. There were plenty of times I went to Disneyland after work since I had the afternoon free. But now, once I’m done with work I want to get dinner figured out and before I know it, it’s time to go to bed since I get up so early. There are a few wasted hours in my evening when I’m not doing much that I could take advantage of. And even though I try to go to bed early, I usually don’t. So I might as well go out with friends or something that keeps me out a bit later than to be up too late because I was scrolling on social media.

This goal is easier said than done. So many of my friends have moved away so I am working on rebuilding friendships that may have become acquaintanceships. I’m trying to ask more friends about meeting up for dinner or something simple like that to just get out of the house. But I’m hoping if I ask my friends if they want to go out and do something specific versus just asking if they are free and then trying to figure out something to do, hopefully, I will be able to make more plans and I’ll find things I like to do that I haven’t done in a while. Maybe I’ll find a new routine that adds a bit more social time to my week.

Having a routine isn’t bad, as long as it’s something you are having fun with. But now, I’m not having as much fun with my weekly routine and it feels like a rut, so I want to work on getting out of it and start enjoying my life again.

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Default ThumbnailJust Enjoying My Boring Routine (or Still Working On Adding More Back To My Life) Default ThumbnailBeing Organized and Stylish (or Working On Getting Into A Post-Pandemic Life) Default ThumbnailWorking On A Work/Life Balance (or Almost Repeating A Recent Monthly Challenge) Default ThumbnailStill Working On Creating Better Habits (or Getting More Prepared For “Normal” Life Again) Default ThumbnailA Little Of My Old Life and A Little Of My New Life (or Yet Another Thing To Balance) Default ThumbnailWorking On My Inner Badass (or How Spinning Fit In Perfectly With My Life Yesterday)

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Still Trying To Find Free Time (or Not Having Time Or Energy To Do Things I Want)

Posted on August 19, 2022 | Comments Off on Still Trying To Find Free Time (or Not Having Time Or Energy To Do Things I Want)

I know that everyone has struggles with time management and finding free time. But for a while, I was doing ok with figuring out my schedule because my work hours weren’t normal business hours. When I was done with work at 3pm, even though sometimes I was too tired to do much after work, I had a lot more time to add things to my schedule. Even with working on Saturdays, I knew I always had Sundays and Mondays free as well as every afternoon. And I often would plan things on Mondays since I was always free then and I didn’t have to worry about anything else that might come up that day.

But now, I’m working longer hours and I have more work days. My only day each week without work is Sundays. This has been this way for about a year now, but I’m still getting adjusted to it. And it is surprising that being done with work only 2 or 3 hours later makes such a huge difference. When I’m done with work, the afternoon is over. And I do have things as soon as work is done either 2 or 3 days a week. So my weeknights aren’t that free until sometimes after 7pm. And if I have gotten up before 6 in the morning to work out and then am not done until after 7 in the evening, I really have no energy to do anything else that day.

I have wanted to have more fun things in my life. I want to feel like I have the time to make plans or see friends. And I want to look into acting classes again. But because of my full schedule, I am really struggling to find when I can add those things in. And when I do have the time to add them in, I don’t have the energy. I know I need to have energy if I want to get back into acting classes. If I’m going to spend money on a class, I want to take full advantage of it.

I know that part of me not having energy is because I’m not getting enough sleep. But getting enough sleep also would limit my free time after work. If I was making sure I was in bed by 10pm, I couldn’t be in a class that was from 7-10pm like so many are. As much as I would like to sleep in a little later, if I did my workouts after work then there goes any free time I might have. In some ways, this feels like a no-win situation.

But I know that’s not true. There are ways to work this out and figure out how to add in more time so that I can do what I want. But I just have to be much more careful with when I have things scheduled. I might have to decide to not keep all the obligations that I have right now. I don’t know what I would drop or stop doing, so I haven’t tried to do that yet. Maybe I just want to do too much. I don’t know.

I know that I’ve had time management issues plenty of times in the past. I do always work it out eventually, but while I’m in the middle of it, it can feel like there are no solutions. And I should be grateful that even if I’m working more hours than I would like, I am working and I’m in a better work situation than I have been in before. But life is always a balance so when I’m doing better with work, I might not be doing as well with other things in my life. So I just need to work on that balance some more and hopefully I will come up with a good solution for myself soon.

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Default ThumbnailSeeing How To Make My New Schedule Work (or I Have A Better Idea Of My Free Time Now) Default ThumbnailGetting Myself Back On Schedule (or At Least This Is A Slow Transition) Default ThumbnailIt’s Always Unexpected (or Sending Positive Energy To A Co-Worker) Default ThumbnailMaking Up A Schedule (or What To Do With My New Free Time) Default ThumbnailStill Figuring Out Time Management (or Little Changes Do Make Big Differences) Default ThumbnailBack To More Scheduling (or Seeing How Much My Time Unemployed Affected Me)

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Gaining Back A Bit Of My Weekend (I’ve Really Needed This Extra Time)

Posted on May 10, 2022 | Comments Off on Gaining Back A Bit Of My Weekend (I’ve Really Needed This Extra Time)

For about a year, I’ve had only 1 weekend day that felt like a day off. I work on Saturday mornings. Once Orangetheory reopened I was going to my workouts after I was done with work. And after my workouts, I had my Movie Club group. So my Saturdays were busy from 8 am until about 6 or 7 pm. Even though I could do something after I was done with Movie Club, I rarely did since I was normally exhausted by that point in my day. So I only really had Sundays off since I work Monday-Saturday.

And for a while, I don’t think this was a huge issue for me. It was a lot, but it was ok. I didn’t feel like I was missing out on too much since I’m still not really going out too much. And it was a nice routine to have. But slowly I’ve been starting to get my Saturdays back again.

First, my Movie Club group decided to move our movies from Saturdays to Fridays. More people were making plans for Saturdays so they wanted to switch the night so they didn’t have to miss the movie. I don’t mind this and we just watch the movies right after I’m done with work (I’m one of the only people on the west coast, so it’s much later for everyone else). We haven’t been watching the movies every week, which is also ok. I know that we still watch them pretty often, but if we miss a week or two it’s ok. Plus, we still have the tv show that we watch on Wednesdays.

And I haven’t been working out on Saturdays lately either. I’ve been toying with having my workouts just on weekdays for a while and I’ve been testing out the idea. And last month, I knew I needed every Saturday I could get to work on the move. So I never worked out on a Saturday in April. And I’ve been continuing that idea this month. I think I might start just planning for weekday-only workouts and if I need to do one on a Saturday I can do that. For example, this week I will be working out on Saturday for a few reasons. But having the time after work free and not spent working out and then showering and getting dressed after working out has worked to my advantage.

Besides all the work I’ve been doing with moving, there have been other tasks I’ve been trying to get done and I’m glad I don’t have to make them all happen on Sundays. For example, I went to Costco the other day to get some things I wanted/needed for the condo. I know going on a weekend can be crazy, but at least going on Saturday when I didn’t have anything I had to rush to afterward allowed me as much time as I needed there. And I got a lot of good things, including some things that weren’t on my list but I was happy to get much cheaper than if I bought them elsewhere.

And I’ve been working on getting stuff unpacked and organized a lot on Saturdays. Sundays are usually spent cleaning and getting ready for the week (plus relaxing a bit), so doing some of the more annoying tasks on Saturdays helps to get them out of the way. As I’ve said before, unpacking and organizing will be something I work on for a while for a few reasons. But just seeing some progress makes me feel better about my space and less embarrassed when people come by.

Hopefully, soon I will have some more fun things I do with my extra time on Saturdays. It’s been tough to plan fun things in my life since the move really dominated my life for longer than I want to admit. And I’m still hesitant because of the pandemic. But I’m reevaluating what I consider to be acceptable risks so I can hopefully go out and do more things. And if I keep my Saturdays less busy with some of the regular things I’ve been doing before, it at least allows for the potential for more fun things to be added into my schedule as I have the opportunity.

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Default ThumbnailA Very Low-Key Holiday Weekend (or Enjoying A Real 3 Day Weekend) Default ThumbnailLack Of Plans (or A Lazy Weekend) Default ThumbnailWatching Some Inspiration (or A Weekend Of Screenings) Default Thumbnail2 Years Of Movie Club (or Another Pandemic-Related Anniversary) Default ThumbnailKicking Butt (or Feeling Extra Tough In Spin Class) Default ThumbnailMaintenance Time (or Busy Busy Weekend)

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