All right, so the title is a bit misleading. Am I managing to stay balanced in the midst of exhausting busyness? Absolutely not in my opinion. Lately I've been feeling like I am hovering on the side of a cliff. On one side, the stable land side, is a balanced, God-centered life. The other side, the huge canyon, is a crazy, want-to-pull-out-my hair and scream-at-the-top-of-my-lungs, completely-losing-it life. Hehe, ok, maybe that was a bit dramatic, but you get the gist of it. But I've had a number of people ask me in the past week to post/give advice about how to stay balanced. So take this post, or leave it. But know that what is shared below is coming from someone who definitely doesn't have it all figured out yet and has so much room for growth. And Lord willing, He'll keep giving me day after day to walk with Him and learn how to glorify Him in the midst of my busyness.
So first of all, and especially to my dear teacher friends, is my walk with the Lord. Can we possibly do everything that is on our plates every single day? No. But I can commit to getting up a few minutes earlier than I normally would and begin my day in prayer and commit my long to-do list to the Lord and ask Him to give me His priorities for my day. Now when I ask Him for His priorities for my day, does that necessarily mean that my grading will always be caught up? Absolutely not. Does it mean that my apartment is tidy every single day? Nope. Does that mean my dear husband is enjoying three-course meals every night? Nope again. Sometimes God shows me that following up with a student is more important for my after school time than grading that big pile of papers the day they were turned in. Other days it means not cleaning my apartment as perfectly as I want to spend more concentrated time alone with Him, digging into His Word. And other days, it means giving up exercise time to prepare and have that nice three course meal and quality time with Ciaran. So again #1 for me is place God first no matter what. Spend time in prayer, get His priorities and spend time in His Word. All my strength comes from my Creator and no where else.
The close second for me is making Ciaran my #2 priority. After being a child of God, my most important calling is being Ciaran's wife. I find by taking a few minutes to see how I can help him in his work for the day or if there is anything he wants/needs, I am so much more peaceful. There's something about following the Lord's directives that sets my day aright. More often times than not, Ciaran doesn't have anything for me, but when he does, I derive so much joy from serving him and being my husband's helper.
Another thing for me is exercise. I'm prone to extreme fatigue. My optimal night's sleep is somewhere between 9 and 11 hours. Obviously getting that much sleep is rarely an option, so hence the need for exercise. Here's my workout regimen and some DVD's that help assist that.
Cardio: Minimum 3 times a week
To get my cardio in this winter and early spring, I have been using:
-Leslie Sansone Walk At Home 5 Mile Fat Burning Walk
-Cathe Friedrich's Basic Step + Body Fusion (I can just opt to do the cardio portions, or if it is a strength training day, I can do the weights, abs or lower body work)
-Karen Voight's Ultimate Circuit Training (actually has a cardio only option on the DVD menu)
-Keli Robert's The Ultimate Step Workout
Strength Training (minimum 2 times a week, trying to work up to about every other day)
-Tamilee Webb's I Want That Body
-Cathe Friedrich's Basic Step + Body Fusion
-Karen Voight's Ultimate Circuit Training
-Cathe Friedrich's All Step (I only use this for the shoulder work segment toward the end--it's amazing)
Stretching, Pilates, Etc. (At least 3 times a week)
-Cathe Friedrich's Total Body Stretching
-Tamilee Webb's Total Stretch for Beginners
-Windsor Pilates
-A.M. & P.M. Stretch
-Windsor Pilates Back Workout
And that's pretty much what I'm doing. I occasionally switch in stability ball, medicine ball or kettlebell workouts for strength training if I'm bored or I pull out one of my five other step aerobics tapes that are really old. But those listed above are pretty much my go-to workout DVD's that are keeping me motivated at present. I'm still not in the shape I want to be in because my workouts have to be so short, but they are helping fight my fatigue.
And as for keeping my apartment fairly decent and presentable and laundry clean, well I've been using the FlyLady system of cleaning since last March and I have to tell you... this has been a Godsend since getting married and working a job with such long hours!!! I've also adapted it to my classroom and it has made such a difference.
And as for cooking, well I simply just force myself to sit down and make a menu plan every week, then I grocery shop with Ciaran with that menu in mind. After grocery shoppinjg, I post said menu plan to our fridge. And every night before I go to bed, I check what's on the menu for the next day, pull out the necessary meat from the freezer (if applicable), prechop or prepare anything that can be done ahead of time and it seems to make meal preparation a little simpler when I get home completely exhausted from work. But once again, poor Ciaran is getting his fair share of freezer meals and take-out this year. I aim to prepare four solid meals a week, sometimes I do more, sometime less, depending on both of our schedules. Ciaran also is a great cook and jumps in on some of the days when I'm drowning in papers or just need a break. (My two current favorites that he makes are salmon and beef enchiladas...and we just bought a gas grill that should arrive a week from tomorrow, so I'll get to enjoy his amazing grilling soon--I've missed that since we've moved down here).
Well, that's enough commentary on the attempt to stay balanced and semi-sane in the midst of busyness, hopefully I'll be able to post more later this week. I hope everyone is enjoying this gorgeous Sabbath.
No comments:
Post a Comment