Learning how to embrace the chaos

This morning I woke up feeling pretty dang good. My kids and I had made quite a bit of progress around our home yesterday cleaning up and posting things up on eBay. I also had a good morning PiYo class and a good evening free fit club as well yesterday. So I woke up with this burst of energy today.

It is summertime and my kiddos get extra visits with dad this time of the year. So this morning I spent time with them double checking their suitcases making sure there were full day outfits and night gear, as well as underwear, toothbrushes, yada yada -you get the idea! I mean I could do this for them, but I take it as a parental responsibility to teach them life skills on how to pack a suitcase. We have had a few struggles with that lately. So, we get it done and all loaded in the car just to run back in for a few more forgotten things of course.. then we get on the road. We drive 45 minutes to meet their dad halfway so I try to have some quality time chatting with them en route. Shoot I live for this time of the year, every week I get a few extra days kid free in the summer! Some weeks they truly drive me nuts and I really look forward to them going to dads! No matter what though, I always miss them and it's almost a little too quiet for me...

When I returned home today after sending the kids away, I was thinking optimistically about all the things I could do without them slowing me down! I rolled up my sleeves and started digging around our disaster area of a home still after a move last year. I was a little frustrated looking at the kids rooms and seeing not even basic things picked up like I repeatedly had been asking them to when we've been home. I actually sent a text to dad asking him to let our son know I will be cleaning his room & that if we wants me not to invade the privacy of his room again, he will need to keep it clean. My 10 year old son is at an age where he is really starting to value his privacy  (I don't want to know!) At any rate it is helping motivate him somewhat to take better care of his things. My daughter on the other hand is 7 & an open book, she hates to be alone I think. She does not care about privacy too much and would love some help in her room. Hers might be the worst in the house right now. So I got a lot done just picking up, my son's room looks 10 times better. I stepped out into the rest of the house though and had this realization slap me in the face that I still have 2,002 things to do around here. I started feeling some anxiety and overwhelmed with it just looking around at all. There is never enough time in a day!! Oh my gosh, & now it's already 7:30 at night? Where did the damn day go?! Ooof, so in order to put it in perspective for myself- I reflect back on everything I did today. Was I productive enough or as much as I could be the time given? Well let's see I...

-unpacked/repacked kids suitcases

-grabbed quick breakfasts for the go

-cleaned my son's room 

-worked on my schedule

-a few loads of laundry

-shipped a couple packages

-received a couple packages

-checked email

-responded or initiated to messages

-social media posts 

-worked on like page & website

-started a shopping list

Does not seem like so much, but my was it all so time-consuming! You know what I still have not done today? My workout! I have a mountain of socks needing to be matched driving me nuts, and a sink full of dishes that I need to do before I go to sleep. There is still soooo sooo much I want to do before this day is done! I'm always thinking about trying to be more grateful and less greedy though. I am only one woman though, and there's only so much I can do in one day. I have to appreciate the little accomplishments along the way.. because they do add up! I know it's so easy to feel overwhelmed with some things in life. We can feel like even those small steps in the direction of our goals might be insignificant or won't add up enough to really make the difference. We have to keep trying, letting it overwhelm us does no good. If we fail to try, we are just rolling over and letting it consume us, we are accepting defeat. I don't know about you, but I'm just not that type of gal! 

 So it is now already 8:30 pm as I am finishing up this blog post, the day is about done. I have been needing to keep up with this blog better as well, I have no rhyme or reason yet to it. I just know that I have to do it. This is my light duty day of the week, so it's as good a day as any. I think I may well still have time to squeeze in a 20-30 minute workout here at home because I am worth it. Then I may make a little trip to the store and after come home for a hot shower or long soak. I have to step away and have that "qt for me". A little bit of this, a little bit of that, the work will always be there.

To try & keep this short and sweet, I believe this is what they had in mind when somebody coined the phrase "embrace the chaos". What kind of chaos are you juggling, or how are you getting a handle on it?

Still working on my Sublime

So I'm just gonna fess up, I'm a hot mess express. I'm a mombie often lacking sleep and overdosed on caffeine. One day at a time, it's all any of us can do really. As a single mom trying to juggle multiple business endeavors, life certainly gets overwhelming for me sometimes! I just keep this mantra in mind "keep doing my best and forget the rest". This month my team and I have started a new online challenge for Tony Hortons 22 minuite Hard Corps, this one is definitely fierce. Even though it's only 22 minuites it really does not waste the time! 🙌

 I'm preparing to start up new classes in my community this week, I'm hoping they do well and grow! Both projects involve a lot of time spent inviting, promoting, & checking in on people. I also spend some substantial time practicing my choreography for classes. Even though I use a lot of energy and time into these projects, I would not trade it for the world still! I love what I do, I love bettering myself and helping others through practice and patience. 

So I've been working on posters, class punchcards, spreading the word, and online advertising as well as getting that choreo practice in and checking in on clients. I've been working on making my schedule so I'm more focused with a daily plan every day. I still have room to improve on keeping a better calendar and schedule, but at least I'm trying and have gotten started with that good habit.  Practice, practice makes progress!

I never seem to get everything done in a day that I want to, there's always distractions that I easily get sucked into. Maybe I do take on a bit much sometimes, but I just don't understand how anyone could be bored in this world with so much that can be done at any given moment! I honestly cannot remember the last time I was truly "bored"..

It's a double-edged sword really though to strive for a highly productive lifestyle with not enough focus or hours in a day. Like I said, sometimes I often feel overwhelmed. I've been so productive and some ways and totally lacking in others! We have been moved into our new home for close to 7 months now. We still have quite a few repairs, as well as sorting and organizing to do. I look around my home and wonder if I will ever get put away or find that comfort I so desire. Granted, we did take a little break on it all over the holidays. We worked very hard on the move for all of last summer and a chunk of Fall. It is tough finding that balance between work and home isn't it? It's kind of funny that I started working from home so that I would have more time at home with my kids, and I have this feeling lately like I'm just not having enough time for those things! 

Last week we did clean and sort through the kids rooms some. Geez they outgrow clothes so dang fast! This week I have started back up on painting touch ups, and hopefully in the next few weeks here we can get our living room carpet installed finally!  I guess it is just a matter of being grateful and not greedy. I know we will get our home sorted and settled eventually, we just need to keep working at it every day. Truthfully I have a lot less mess then I did when working the traditional job though. I have had more time to sort through things now and have paired down a lot from our move. It's not going to happen overnight, most great things don't. Great things take persistence and hard work! I think I need that mantra on my wall ASAP actually. 😏

What I have not been able to work on lately that I really must is my website! I have been contacting suppliers to find more products I feel confident about marketing and that I would use myself. I've been thinking about this whole blogging thing too, how often do I do it? How do I come up with great content to share and keep people engaged? What kind of things do I do with my website to make it stand out from any of the rest of it's kind? I suppose these are topics I can Google or look up on Pinterest here soon to get those idea juices flowing. So many sources for ideas, it's a matter of following through on my own though. I need to get some pictures of me on my website still, I'm so past due getting new professional pictures taken! I can take stupid selfie's all day in private groups or SnapChat & I don't care if I look silly or whooped. Something about those professional pictures though really makes me feel extra akward in front of the camera. 

I'm also behind on EBay posting. I have sooo much stuff here still to get rid of and it would be nice to get back some of that money I spent on the items that we are not using. I also utilize that opportunity to network and send my business card. I'm still waiting someday for somebody to say to me "I found you through EBay" Laugh if you will, but it will happen because I'm patient and in this for the long haul! 

I have my Etsy store as well I have been wanting to get my beaded belly chains listed up. Our stock of those is still kind of low though. One day the kids and I will spend some time with that or coming up with some other craft projects we can list up there. 

Priorities 1st though, pay the bills, keep that roof overhead and keep us fed. I have to work on the existing projects I have going on. I need to work on this home and our feng shui, so that we will be a smoother running more comfortable family all around. I need that time for me to collect and reflect, maybe I should start scheduling that on the calendar... I need to be patient with myself but get back to working on the big picture. I have faith that I can make it great with time and practice. It's like anything else; we can't give up when things get a little tough, or say we may have design or writers block! 

So at 2am on one of those sleepless nights I decided to start up another blog post. This whole blogging thing is bright and new for me, we have to start somewhere though right? Excuse my ramblings of the slightly delirious, exhausted, and overwhelmed sort. Far from perfect and never will be because well, I'm human! I'm still working on my own bit of the Sublime one day at a time. I may have to slow down or reschedule from time to time, but I won't ever quit. 😍