Changing my strategy

I had a run of several difficult days last week.  I was just very down, my energy was low, and I felt overwhelmed by the things I needed to do.  As a result, I didn't get very much done, and the further I fell behind, the more overwhelmed I felt.  One night I even did a proverbial tap out and asked my husband to get take-out.

Saturday I got my grocery shopping done, but that was about it.  Saturday night I realized I was in real trouble - the reality is we are packing and there is a firm deadline and stuff has to get down or I will have a real problem. 

So Saturday night I decided I needed a different strategy.  All those days, I not only felt my feelings but I allowed them to determine my actions (or lack thereof).  I have feelings, but I am not only my feelings, and I can decide how much they will control my actions.  And my feelings needed to have no control over my actions.

I'm not sure if that makes sense.  I decided it was okay to feel down or whatever, but I needed to take care of the things I needed to get done as a way of taking care of myself.

Yesterday we got up, walked the dogs, walked ourselves, and then I made breakfast and cleaned the kitchen.  Then I spent 4 hours doing food prep and cleaning up after myself.  Then I took a nice long break (after roughly 6 hours on my feet I needed a break).  Then I spent 2 hours sorting and packing my CDs.

I realized I also needed a different strategy for the week as well.  I normally come in to work early and leave early, but the reality was that I wasn't getting anything done in the afternoon.  So, effective this morning I "swapped" my schedule.  I got up at 6 but then spent 1.5 hours cleaning the house (I did the dishes, organized packing materials, and gave the master bath a thorough cleaning).  Then I took a shower, ate breakfast, packed my lunch, and came in to work. 

We did not get the movies down like we wanted to.  We both worked very hard yesterday and were pretty pooped last night.  We agreed we would do half tonight and half tomorrow.  That gets us back on schedule.

I won't lie - my husband thinks the garage is "ready" and he is deluded.  There are also several items that I have realized still needed to be done I'd either forgotten about or hadn't considered.  But I think my strategy of spending 1.5-2 hours in the morning prior to work for the next 2 weeks will get the inside of the house where it needs to be.

As far as the garage, I plan to accept that it is out of my control and make myself scarce. :-)

Hope you had a good weeked.

I did a LOT of food prep done this weekend so my breakfasts (turkey meatloaf), lunches (salad and homemade falafel) are done and a lot of pre work has been done for suppers since I'll be getting home 2 hours later than normal.

This is not my preferred schedule, but its only for 2 weeks.