I am constantly juggling balls: family, work, fitness. Usually, I can keep them up in the air, but sometimes I only juggle two. For example, when I was sick in the fall and, again, in the spring, I wasn’t working out for several weeks, which meant that I could put extra time into work and still be able to give to my family. I love the holidays that teaching provides as it lets me leave the workball in the bag and focus on my family and running; let’s face it, to train for long distance, you need lots of time.
This week was the first week that I dropped two of the balls; work took over my life. In Ontario, every teacher is formally evaluated every5 years and, because it is only once in five years, it is a big deal and a huge amount of work. My evaluation was Tuesday.
I spent weeks getting ready for this first of three parts; in the past two weeks, I spent hours prepping, resulting in many late nights and a very messy house. Our fridge was running on empty for days (Yes, we did eat but I shopped on an “as-needed” basis). My boys became really good at entertaining themselves (and they rarely watch television so that was a real feat) while I worked. On Saturday, Sunday and Monday, I was up until 2:00 a.m., trying to perfect everything for Tuesday morning. My co-workers laughed at me because I was so worried, but worrying is me; I’m a perfectionist and did not want to show anything but the best.
On Tuesday night, I expected that I would be exhausted but wasn’t. I started to get the house back in order. Wednesday night was my first true workout since Saturday’s race. On Thursday, the boys and I shopped indulgently at the grocery store. Last night, we ran, and I slept. Today, I napped and, tomorrow, I will sleep again.
I have regained that balance. I now have time for fitness, family and work – all of them priorities but in no particular order.
Hey, we all have to take a break once in a while and focus on something more important.
BTW – my wife saw this post in my reader a while back and was like “ummm, what is this all about balls post??”. HAHAHA, hilarious.
Nice that you have all of that worry and prep work behind you now…time for some fun!!
Congratulations on making it through š To me it sounds like you were still doing a really good job at juggling all the balls. It may have seemed to you like you dropped a few, but to me it sounds like you kept everything going and now can get back to you just juggling 3 or 4 balls š Cheers!
Well, no one can blame you for having to drop a ball or two! That's tough stuff. You'll be back on track this week, I'm sure.
Phew! You described perfectly what happens when I drop a few balls…glad the balls in your life are all back in the air š