J is for Juggling

I think it is in a woman's nature to juggle a lot of things. These past few weeks I have been juggling my full-time job as a Montessori educator, my part-time job as a writer, handling my mother's move into a facility for her Alzheimer's, and today my father had brain surgery. This has included numerous emails and meetings about my students, and numerous phone calls about my parents. I am also trying to get them settled while taking care of myself. Thank God my school is on Spring Break this week. Of course, I would have been home for the ICU and surgery, anyway.

My sister told me that I am trying to take on too much. Perhaps I am. I am grateful that I do not have young children to care for right now. It is difficult enough keeping up with my three furry kids who accompanied to my father's home.

I did manage to write one article today. This is my first blog post. I may have to write a few more to continue organizing my thoughts to calm my head so that I can finally get some sleep tonight.

A lot of other people I know have a tendency to juggle a lot. I try to just put one foot in front of the other to get through these tough situations. I am trying really hard to remember to eat and drink and to take care of myself. That is something that many of us who juggle a lot tend to neglect. I am also learning how to let some things go.

For example, this has been one of the most strenuous years of my life. So, I try to keep my school duties contained within the allotted time frame as much as possible. If I do work late, which is a necessity in the profession, I set up a cut-off time. Whether or not I am finished, I leave. I do the same thing with my writing. If I can't do it, then I don't do it. That is part of the reason that I am so far behind on this challenge. I may not catch up on all of the blogs, but I think I will be able to catch up on most of them. I have been hiking more frequently to physically relieve some of the stress. Because the juggling isn't going to stop any time soon and I need to keep on keeping on.