Marla the Blogger

My husband and I are waiting. He applied for a grant and we'll find out in July whether he got it or not. It's a simple yes or no, but the implications of what the answer is are big. It will impact his job and, probably, where we're going to be living in the next year or so. One answer could mean us staying here for the near future and possibly moving to a different part of town with a better school district. The other answer could mean he'll have to look for a new job, which could also mean having to relocate. Either way, we can't really do anything until we hear what the answer is.

Waiting like this isn't easy for me. First of all, I'm not a particularly patient person. It's one of my faults that I do try to work on, but finding patience doesn't come easy for me. Secondly, I'm a planner. I want to be able to plan things out in advance so I can start tackling the necessary steps as soon as possible. I feel like I can handle most things when they come my way as long as I know what I'm dealing with. It's the uncertainty that drives me crazy.

So, how am I dealing with this? Well, it's not easy. Obviously since we don't know yet what the answer will be, I can't do any planning. So, as cliche as it sounds, I'm trying to just take one day at a time and focus on what's right in front of me than what is off in the future. And I'm trying to remind myself because I'm such a good planner, once we do know what the answer will be, I'll be able to switch into planning mode and get going on what we need to do next. It's not easy waiting, but I'm doing my best and reminding myself that the wait will be over before we know it. 

We just got back from a great vacation with family. In the past, I've often wondered how "relaxing" vacations can really be, with all the preparation you have to do before you leave and all the work that awaits you when you return. This time, though, I was determined that I wasn't going to undo all the positive benefits of taking a vacation by getting stressed out about getting ready for it or getting back from it. And I was successful! Well, mostly at least. There were a few slight moments of stress, but in general it was better than usual and made the transition back to home and our regular schedule easier.

First, I started packing days in advance. Probably not as many days as I should have, but definitely better than doing it all the night before (or morning of) our departure, as I'm known to do. I still unfortunately forgot to pack a few things, but we left pretty much on time with the majority of what we needed.

Second, I started preparing to leave from work earlier than usual. I started transitioning work over to other members of my team a few days in advance, so they had time to ask me questions while I was still there. And I took them up on their offers to help with anything I needed to get done before I left, so I wasn't frantically trying to wrap everything up the night before we left.

Also, we got back home on schedule so we had a full day at home before we had to go back to work and school. It meant leaving a day earlier than the rest of our family, and driving 12 hours straight, but it was worth it. It gave us time to unpack, do laundry, get groceries, etc. before we had to jump back into our normal routine the next day. And it gave our son a day to play at home and decompress, which he definitely needed after such a long car trip.

Most importantly, I enjoyed myself and didn't sweat the small stuff while on our trip. Yes, we forgot a few critical items (like my son's favorite blankie) but we were able to get by. And I didn't spend a minute of my vacation thinking about everything I needed to do when we got home and I got back to work. I just enjoyed the time with my family and away from our day-to-day routine. I can't wait for our next trip!

I spend the majority of my waking hours doing something. My husband is amazed at my ability to pack as many household chores as I can into the time it takes him to read a book to our son and put him to bed. Most days I don't stop moving from the moment I get home from work until I go to bed, with only a short break to sit down and eat dinner. While it's often necessary for me to get a lot of things done in a short amount of time, lately I've been thinking about the value of slowing down.

First of all, slowing down enables me to concentrate better. When I'm moving too fast, my brain is working hard to keep up and I often forget something important. I get distracted from what I'm doing now when I'm spending too much time thinking about what I have to do next.

Slowing down also keeps me from completely exhausting myself. When I take time to slow down, I can feel myself relaxing and I feel more rested when I wake up in the morning. In contrast, when I'm moving too fast, my mind is still racing with all the things I need to do when I go to bed and I'm just as tired in the morning as I was the night before.

And perhaps most importantly, slowing down helps me appreciate and enjoy my life. Time races by fast enough on it's own; I don't need to add to that by rushing from one thing to the next. I look at my son and can't believe he's going to be four years old soon. It seems like just the other day he was a little baby. If I don't slow down every once in awhile, he'll be grown up and gone before I know it.

So, although right now there is laundry to be done and dinner to be made and the trash to be taken out, I'm not going to rush around getting everything finished. I'll make some dinner and enjoy it with my husband. And then we'll see what we have time to do and still relax. What we can't get done around the house tonight can wait. I need to slow down a bit.