When overwhelmed….Workout!

We are all very busy these days, with very few exceptions. And it is often difficult to accomplish everything in a day or a week, that we feel needs to be accomplished. I learned from my husband early in our marriage that I was assigning far too much importance to things that could be left for another day. I would begin a nice day with the words, “I have SO much to do today!” and begin to sink into a depression before I’d ever had my morning coffee (a family trait). He would ask me to tell him what all of these things were that were going to engulf my day and when I said them out loud, I would realize the foolishness of my thoughts. “I have to do the laundry, and go to the store. I have to dust and vacuum. I need to call mom and mail a bill. And I have to be a work by 5.”  Those were the good old days – now my to do list is about 50X longer than that!

He would then demand to know why at least half of those things had to be done today. Why couldn’t the dusting and vacuuming be done tomorrow when we were both off and he could help? Was there in fact, anything on that list aside from the 5 pm work deadline that had to be done today? And so I became better (though I do still get overwhelmed) at prioritizing AND over the years I discovered that one of the top priorities has to be that which allows me to blow off some anxious energy and relax, the daily workout. (Thank you Kung Fu!)

The next couple of weeks are an example of this for me. We have pending birthday parties at home, a dinner for our amazing teachers, a tournament, out of town guests, Easter is in there, a group run, some early release and off days for the kids, and an out-of-town trip for my husband. This is all grouped with all of the daily house and business chores that I take care of, childcare and meals. I know that anyone reading this has their own similar list because as I said before, we are all busy people. But the key to surviving it all and hopefully pulling it off with aplomb and bravado, is organizing, prioritizing and….the daily workout.

So throw out anything that can be done another day (without messing up that day) or doesn’t really need to be done at all. Organize the rest into a plan of what needs to be done by when and then prioritize a list each day that will get what must be done completed by the time it must be done. Most importantly however, at the top of that daily list, place your daily workout or whatever that thing is that you do which keeps you sane. And try to remember to savor every precious moment of your crazy day!