Last night my honey and I went to a wedding for one of my co-workers. It was a short, sweet ceremony followed by an hour-long cocktail hour, buffet dinner and wrapped up with some dancing. The night was a lot of fun and it was good to let loose a bit!
Now this freshly married co-worker is getting ready for her honeymoon and I am going to cover her shifts for the next 2 weeks. Then another co-worker is taking the following 2 weeks off and I am covering for her too. During this time I will also have a few yardwork jobs lined up.
Yup 4 weeks of essentially full-time work. I can’t believe I agreed to this. When I get stressed I lose my composure, I get off track and life gets chaotic. I don’t want this to happen this time so I thought I would do some planning in advance to ensure I stay sane for the next month!
I need to ensure I stay on track in terms of getting enough quality sleep. So my plan is to get up every work day at 5:15AM and head to bed by 9:30PM at the latest.
I will start the day on the right foot by taking quiet time before 6:00AM. This helps me clear my head, relax my mind and body and let go of whatever is bugging me. Quiet time also frees my head up to listen to any AHA moments that come to me that otherwise get forgotten in the tangles of my brain.
When I get busy, I forget to think ahead and eating healthy flies out of the window. I plan on preparing a big batch of tuna salad one week and a batch of egg salad the next week. I will have a green salad in the fridge and can bring this to work when I don’t have leftovers. I will cut extra veggies every night when cooking dinner to ensure I have some for my breakfast every day.
Today I will plan ahead for at least 4 crock pot meals (1 per week). This will give us at least 2 meals each. I love coming home to the smell of a yummy dinner after a long day at work. You can read about my love affair with the crock pot here!
I am in the midst of doing several loads of laundry so I will be all caught up before the chaos begins. Stacks of clothes on my dresser and chair in the bedroom are 1 sign that indicates that life is starting to get stressful for me. I am hoping that getting caught up in advance will allow me to stay on track.
When planning ahead, it is critical to include FUN things to do. I like to have something fun to look forward to each week. So next weekend I am going to spend both nights at the cottage. Child #9 and his honey will hopefully join me at least 1 night. The following weekend I will plan to get back to the cottage for some kayaking or maybe a bike ride with my honey.
I just blocked off 1 hour of time on my calendar to “plan meals and fun” each week for the next 3 weeks. I am a firm believer in the need to schedule the fun as well as the responsibilities. I also blocked off some time to spend with my honey each week! That way she knows to keep that time slot free so we can do something fun together.
This 1/2 hour of planning can only help me get through what I know will be a difficult month. Wish me luck!
Lake Girl
