It’s 8:30 am and I am already feeling stressed.
it’s one of those days where life has finally slowed down, you look around as the piles of dust settle and see all of the little things you forgot along the way.
It’s bad enough that I was up at 5:30 am after a long weird dream about me raising my son in a post-apocalyptic vampire world (sound like a Lifetime movie for the ages, right?) and the more I try to cross off my list, the longer it’s getting.
Every addition adds to my stress level.
It’s not like I can just quickly check these things off. The weeds in our vegetable garden are swallowing up the marigolds, although the unplanned bounty of purslane that came up through the ground has made the battle a little easier, but now it’s already hot outside.
Even though I just ran a load of dishes, another stands ready to go as I marvel at my small family’s ability to leave glasses and little plastic forks everywhere in the house.
There are no clean towels and laundry time is restricted by the time of day as I hope to keep the energy costs just that little bit lower. This two story house is expensive to keep cool in triple digit temps, even if I just worry about the bottom half being cool and let Wonder Boy rest on the couch.
A broken sprinkler meant the yards were tuned off, so I already watered by hand, looking down at the weeds that sprung up overnight in my succulent garden and I again pondered what the heck one plant is that just won’t go away no matter what I do.
We won’t even go into the office- a mile of everything that has to wait until Friday to even get dealt with, when the in-laws take Wonder boy out for some daytime fun.
I laughed when my little reminder for dusting today came up- I can’t remember the last time I did it and I didn’t even try to lean the bathrooms yesterday like I should have.
Which reminds me- I need to shower.
And time in front of the computer is a must- I have a couple posts that need to be done now, and one that needed to be done a couple of days ago, not to mention other little items on my list that have fallen behind or should be done by now.
So I’m making a list, checking it twice, deciding what’s most important and trying to get what I can done today.
In other words, that dusting and those weeds wait another day.
How do you deal when your list gets too long? How do you decide what to do first?
It is so hard to know where to start when I have tooooo much on my agenda. When I am looking at a long “to do” list and I feel overwhelmed, I usually decide what to delete and what can be moved forward to a less busy time!
I used to try to multitask the heck out of everything.
Now I start with the worst task and either do it during a commercial break on a DVR’d program (usually it’s easier just to finish the task and return the program for a little break), or set a timer for 15 minutes a la Fly Lady.
I actually find I do a better job and finish faster when I do one thing at a time and relax.
There is not one right way for everyone, though…
The only way I get anything done is one thing at a time. I have a hard time deciding what is MOST important and then I’m doing three things at once and they’re never all done.
I think the only way I watch anything is on a DVR. I figure I have to earn my True blood by getting stuff done during the day so I can watch it while Wonder Boy naps. I do not want to deal with another set of nightmares from him catching a few minutes…
I struggle with this too. Some days I just have to take “mental health” time, and just do the absolute most necessary things, and forget about the rest. Then, the next day, when I’m feeling more energized, I’ll tackle other less critical stuff.