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{31 Days} – Starting Where I am Right Now

I want to start with where I am right now in my journey of
overcoming overwhelm.  I have been
restless.  I was waiting all summer for
the “start” of our new school year, so we could change up the routine, get into
a better rhythm, and so I had some grasp on what we were doing every day.

Of course, what actually happened was I was not entirely
ready for school to start.  Sure, I had my plans laid out in my wonderful planner, but I underestimated the impact
of teaching two instead of one, and having a very rambunctious toddler.
I kept adjusting our schedule, but then it seemed like we
were down to the bare bones minimum for what I wanted to accomplish in school,
and we started adding in extracurricular activities outside the home. 

Now we are involved with activities outside the house
several days a week, our weekends are booked with church and sports, and there
is no longer margin in any of my days between parenting, homeschooling,
homemaking, blogging, vlogging, and probably some other –ing words I am not
thinking about right now.
Our life, my life, is full.
I don’t think that is a bad thing, by any means.  I also know that there are people that thrive
in that type of go-go-go environment. 
I am not one of those people.
After many years of questioning why I retreated so much when
life got busy, I finally figured out that I was an introvert.  I will go more into being an introvert later
in this series I believe, but for the short answer – an introvert does not
necessarily mean a shy person.  What it
means is that to energize myself, I need dedicated alone time.  That is hard to come by as a mom, and doubly
hard to come by as a mom who homeschools.

31 Days Starting Where I am Right Now

I have made adjustments over the past couple of years in
order to make life work for me, and for our family.  But, these rhythms, routines, and choices
need adjusting regularly.
I am one to always say “if I can just figure out the RIGHT –
schedule – routine – rhythm – I will be all right.”  But I forget that circumstances change, and
because of that my schedule needs an adjustment.  Just like seasonally we move from one
wardrobe to the next, our rhythm needs that adjustment as well.
Honestly, it is all trial and error.  What may end up working for me may not work
for you, and vice versa.  That isn’t a
bad thing by any means!  However, I know
that some of the ideas that I am planning on sharing will be useful to
everyone.  Granted, I will discuss my
specific changes, but I think that you can take the guidelines I discuss and
apply what works to your own life, and leave the rest behind.

I want to take a moment and place a disclaimer.  I am not saying that everyone MUST do what I
am doing.  No, not at all.  Instead, I want us all to ponder what works
in our lives, and what may need a bit of a tune-up.  I know that I am definitely an introspective
person, and so perhaps I spend a large majority of time considering these
ideas; it is time to take dust off my word of the year action and take some
action on the thoughts that have been flowing through my mind for the past two
months.
My first thought was to think of why I couldn’t get past
life happening so quickly. 
I know that people will either nod their heads in agreement,
or roll their eyes when I say this next statement:
Life is moving fast, the months are moving fast, this year
is almost over.
I know, the sky is falling, all that jazz.  This year has seemed particularly fast to
me.  I realized that part of that reason
was because we have been so busy, and not taking enough breaks to decompress.  But, I also feel like everywhere I look the
*next* thing is always on the horizon.
4th of July weekend, the back to school stuff is
out; as soon as the middle of August rolls around, we start to see Halloween
candy and costumes on the shelves, the week before Halloween the Christmas
stuff will start to peek out behind the leftover costumes.  Commercially, we are always onto the next
holiday, before the last one is even finished. 
I have noticed this more and more as I blog longer.  All of the “experts” are saying you need to
have your content ready super early, that is what people want.  But, is it really?  Instead, it makes me feel overwhelmed, and
unprepared.  So in addition to the
overwhelm that I have with my life in general, I have to add the additional
overwhelm of all the *stuff* I should be doing right.this.minute. 
See, totally stressed out and overwhelmed!  My first stop is going to be a re-assessment
of priorities.  Stay tuned for that post
tomorrow!

Do you feel like life
is moving too fast?  What do you think
the root cause of it is?

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35 Comments

  1. You must be amazing at time management! I can't even imagine adding parenting and homeschooling to my current routine of work and blogging (though I would love to homeschool my kids in the future!)

  2. Haha I'm totally an introvert too and agree that I'm not shy but I like to have alone time to recharge and then I can socialize again. Too much and it drives me annoyed haha

  3. Great post! I find the balance is fluid – during the year there are those times where there is so much going on it seems as if there is not time enough to breathe. And then with we readjust and bring back the balance. Only to start the cycle all over again.

  4. I agree, I always say that everything will be fine once I develop a routine, but then something gums up the works and it gets overwhelming again. Life happens and you just have to find what works for you!

  5. Life is really speeding up! Is it already Thanksgiving and Christmas time and the new year around the corner?? It just moved to quickly!

  6. I applaud you for doing home schooling. I just could never do it. I plan on continuing working once I have kids so I will put them in school. But i looks like you totally have it all figured out!

  7. I do feel as if we are constantly just spinning out content without being prepared! It is sometimes nice to plan ahead though. I'm ready for a fresh start in the new year.

  8. It's good to take a step back when there's so much on your plate. It doesn't mean you're giving up, you're just giving yourself time to create a routine that works for you.

  9. This post came at a great time for me! My son started school for the first time and I thought it would give me a break but instead it added to our chaos. haha I also just had a baby 5 days ago and we are moving this week! Things are so overwhelming, but I know it will pass. I hope you are feeling better about your busyness as well!

  10. So funny my SO and I were discussing homeschooling the other day, I would not have the patience for that, but way to go! I'm sure scheduling really helps to make your day go smoothly and sometimes you do just have to pause and decompress. Blogging can overwhelm me at times, since I work and do my blogging as an extra job/hobby.

  11. I'm right there with ya. I feel like life is flying by and sometimes I'm just happy to keep up. I think it often stems from a sense of urgency that has somehow become the norm – at least in my life. My goal for 2017 (because it will be here before we know it) is to take some time to appreciate the calm before the storm.

  12. I love reading about your trials and successes with home schooling. It really is an option that we are thinking about for my Son's future. Busy times will make you stronger, Mama!

  13. I think you are so, so wise to realize what works for your family. Everyone has to determine their priorities and have the courage to stick to them. Be proud of yourself!!! 🙂

  14. I am the same way! A busy schedule may be fun when it starts, but a few weeks in and I need some mental rest. I have to retreat and get some "me time" or I get very anxiety and feel overwhelmed.

  15. As an adult who was home-schooled and has come out of that experience not very supportive of homeschooling. I think the best thing you can do is to take some time for yourself. Get yourself make on a good path. I believe that if my mother had had more self care and love throughout my childhood my education path could have been massively different. So I can't stress if enough that if you choose to make your children's education dependent on you, ensure that you are actually up for it. There is nothing wrong with asking for help and getting help

    1. I'm sorry you didn't have a positive experience with homeschooling! We absolutely love it, I hope that it didn't come off that we don't love that part of our day 🙂 I think that my main problem is all the "extra" that I expect we are doing as well as the essential. As someone who wants my kids to have the best of everything, I definitely spend a lot of time making sure that I am planning and following their interests accordingly. It is a much more labor intensive way of schooling rather than just following a set curriculum.

      And honestly, if I took a bit of a blogging break, that would probably be helpful 🙂 Thanks for reading!

  16. Homeschooling can be definitely overwhelming. I did it for our last two from start to finish! When my son was in kindergarten, I strapped my infant daughter in a snuggly so that my hands were free and off we went. I wouldn't trade one day of it!

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