Choosing to Choose

So...yesterday I was super whiny, and I don't even like whining!  I feel like I haven't been choosing anything about my course lately, but just riding along on the whims of outside forces.  Although I guess that's still a choice that I'm making, to abdicate responsibility for my own choices.

We did decide to cut out the visit with the great aunts last night as after we got home from work we had a doctor's appointment for one child, piano lessons for both, both kids had massive amounts of homework, and my husband had band practice.  We just had to say no to something because there are only so many hours in the day.  Every day I feel more in awe of my mother.  She worked full-time; went to school; took care of 2 kids, all the house responsibilities, and my dad (who was more work than my brother and me combined).  I don't know how she did it.  She still has more energy than I do and she's 64 years old now.

Last night when we were discussing how we were going to fit everything in tonight, I decided that I was working from home today.  That way my son could walk home from school and get started on his homework earlier.  It wasn't really a day I was scheduled to work from home, but many of those days have been eaten up with meetings recently, so I didn't feel too bad about adding an extra one (or I could say replacing one of the lost days).  It just makes everything so much easier when I can cut out the nearly 2-hour daily commute to and from work.  Plus, I'm more productive when I'm working at home and not dealing with constant interruptions.

What this really boils down to is that I need to spend some more time thinking about how I can make different choices so that I don't always feel so overwhelmed.  I can't stop there though, I've got to then execute on those choices.  Because ever since my daughter was born over 13 years ago, I've felt overwhelmed and like there isn't enough time to fit everything in, and that I'm not actually spending time on the high-value items.  I need to identify my definition of success, and figure out which activities will contribute to that vision and end-state.

So I promise fewer whining posts and more posts about how I'm making better choices, which I hope will help give others some ideas also.  Because if I can't help someone else to start thinking, there's really no reason for all this navel gazing!

Since I was working from home today I walked my son to school and was able to get a few pictures (on my phone of course).

Dragonfly

Grapes