I Dropped the Balls

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.