Sometimes you need to slow down – to speed up.
I was not sure what I would write today. I also was not sure when I would find the time to write. I have this bad habit of jam packing my days with things from beginning to end. It is a constant stream of “to do” items until I reach 20:30 at night, at which point I usually fall in heap onto the couch in front of something stupid on the TV.
To manage the never ending list of tasks I set up for myself I get up really early (like 5:30) and after a cup of coffee I plan out my day with military precision. After trying every organisation software and app out there, I now just sketch out my day in 30 minutes increments in a Word document (low tech). I actually really need this as it turns out I do not have a very firm grasp of time or reality. If I do not have a plan I tend to be totally surprised at the end of the day that I did not do 10 hours of things in the 3 hours of time I actually had.
I also have to admit that I secretly love this time. Everyone else is asleep and I can drink coffee in my pajamas and slowly get ready for the day. I love to be up before the sun and the birds. I just have never been a jump out of bed and get moving quickly person. I need time to slowly and quietly wake up. The idea that some people actually get directly out of bed and go running sounds like total insanity to me.
I take this ritual so seriously that when I stay at a hotel and find out there is not a coffee maker in the room I completely panic. “What am I going to do it the morning!” I ask the startled employee. When they tell me there is coffee in the lobby at 6:00 I feel like they really do not understand the importance of my pajama time in advance of lobby appearances. To prove this point I have been known to throw on a sweater and wander down to the lobby STILL in my pajamas. Take that Hilton!
So you can imagine my shock this morning when I woke up and looked at the clock and it said 7:00. Let me just say that my first words of the day contained four letters. I jumped out of bed and ran around like an idiot as I was now officially 1 ½ hours behind schedule. But then something weird happened, I realized I felt rested. As in “oh, that is what it feels like to sleep all night, wow”. When everyone came downstairs I declared that with the pain issue gone there was a new one, I could not wake up. This was funny to us all, until we started running around again like idiots to get the kids to school on time.
After everyone left and the quiet returned I sat down to work thinking I could totally make up for lost time, no problem. Then my phone beeped:
Today 8:37 am
Mom I forgot my keys at home!
(and several weird crying emojis)
Oh no! Well you know what to do next…
You should make a copy and keep it in your friends locker.
Yap. But I don’t. I’m stressing! I can’t It’s too late. Help me
I can not come to the school now…
Fine
I am sorry
Its ok (crying emoji)
I felt really mean, but there was literally no way I was going to drive to school to give her the keys. She had already used her one pass on the “forgotten keys mom Uber delivery” (although she still had forgotten bathing suit and forgotten lunch to use this year). I really had to catch up on some work, and to be honest I also had a Pilates class (see Day One 10 kilos reference). I was determined to both find a solution to a messed up piece of code on a website and to make it to Pilates. Right, so mean mom it is!
Then just as I was closing my laptop to get going to Pilates:
Today 10:51
Mom, can you come now?
I had two options at this moment. I could try to fit one more thing into my insane day. I could skip one of the things I really needed to do. Or I could just put my phone back in my purse and get going. I picked the last one.
But here is the crazy thing. By choosing that solution I got to exercise, and somehow in between the planking and stretching I suddenly knew exactly what I had to do to fix the website when I got home. This meant the only remaining item was that I had left my daughter to fend for herself without her locker keys and therefore access to her school books.
As I settled into working again my phone beeped. “oh no!” I thought. I just knew I was not going to be strong enough to say no a third time.
Today 13:07
Mum. Can I get musically on my phone please.
Laughing to myself that clearly the key issue was no longer CODE RED I texted back.
If you remember to bring your keys to school from now on.
Ok. Promise. Can I have my iTunes password (happy emoji)
OK, but right now I am working for my other older clients.
Mom tech support opens at 16:00 when I pick you up.
(laughing emojis) Love u (heart)
So here is my take away. I solved the tech problem by slowing down and going to a relaxing class, I solved the key/kid problem by letting it be and just relaxing. And the big take away: if you sleep properly it is way easier to deal with whatever is thrown at you during the day.
But even when you are zen you need a little help. Tomorrow I am setting the alarm clock, and I also will remind my daughter to bring her keys.