I, like most people, start the week with the best of intentions. Full menu of meals, blog posts, clean the house, do the laundry, etc. The list can go on and on. Most weeks I don’t feel that successful until the weekend. I rush around doing ALL.THE.THINGS. I get a rush of adrenaline and feel awesome that things are picked up and planned. It pushes me to have great dreams for the week coming up.
The reality is that a full day of work on Monday wipes me out. It’s mostly mental exhaustion, but it makes me want to climb into the recliner and not get out until it’s time for bed. I hate it. I hate that my week is pretty much the same from Monday until Friday. Then I come home and start doing things so I don’t have to spend the whole weekend doing them. Finally doing them makes me feel great again. Why do I struggle so much getting anything done during the week? Do you have this problem too?
This week, my routine is different. I’m on vacation and home with Maximus. I did ALL.THE.THINGS last weekend and decided to take Monday as a day of rest. It backfired and I felt even more tired the whole day. I was exhausted all morning and took a 2-hour nap in the afternoon. I don’t remember how my evening went, but I do remember not feeling that way on Tuesday. We had plans and things to get done! Errands for an upcoming 2nd birthday party, tot swim, lunch, birthday planning during nap, a yogurt date, and the grocery store. I had all the energy! In between all these things I was also cleaning areas of the house that are in my “monthly cleaning to do.” I think I even put in a small load of laundry that night.
At supper, my husband smiled at me and said “I think you like today a lot more than yesterday.” I told him I had accomplished a lot during the day and felt great. Every once in a while he gets on a kick that my job is too stressful for me. A few comments back and forth about that and the fact that I am on vacation could be the reason for feeling so good. I know a lot of it has to do with accomplishing things on my to do list. During the week, I have a to do list at work to get done. It’s really hard to come home to a completely new one and want to put in time and effort on that.
I think my key is being realistic about the to do list during the day and also at night. I have a tendency to accomplish a lot of things at the end of the day after my staff has gone home. If I’m more deliberate during the day and can spread out those items and be just as successful, I won’t use up all my energy right before I go home. I also need to be realistic at home when creating a list of things to do for the week. {Also, start creating a list of things to do for the week at home!} A to do list helps me stay focused and feel like I’m accomplishing things. It boosts my morale and increases my adrenaline to continue on. I know I need to keep tweaking my approach so I can find the “perfect” balance at work and home. Maybe then I’ll feel a little more put together and feel more energetic!
