It is definitely February. Obviously- you all know this. But what I mean is that that new year window of January is most decidedly over for me.
See, January always tends to be a “lull” month around here. Probably not for everyone, but in my current life, January is always pretty chill. Just not usually too much going on.
This fact means that it feels easier than usual to do things like walk, workout, cook healthy meals, meet my other goals, whatever. I do not think I always realize why this is, so I tend to chalk it up to the whole “new year energy” thing. As in, Oh, see??? This isn’t that hard! I just have to want it more, like I do now in the New Year, and then it’s easy!
But these last few days have been a reminder to me that, nope- sometimes it’s still just hard/ not possible to do everything you want.
Let me do a quick time block recap of my Sunday and Monday, to provide evidence as to why I missed my workouts the last two days (and hit very few steps):
Sunday:
0530: Get up/ shower/get ready
0630: Leave with Asher and my mom for a swim meet. Drive 1 hour 15 minutes.
0800-1300: At swim meet, mostly sitting in a cafeteria waiting between events. Did walk to a nearby gas station to buy my mom a coffee, but otherwise, not much opportunity for exercise here or even many steps! Mostly just sitting…sitting…sitting…..
1300-1530: Stop for post-meet food for Asher, then drive the 1 hour 15 minutes home.
1530-1615: Stop at grocery store to buy stuff for Superbowl meal.
1615-1730: Home, make pico de gallo, start prepping nachos.
1730-2100: Watch Superbowl with parents + boys, eat nachos.
2100-2300: Kids to bed, talking with parents, misc….. went to bed way too late.
Monday:
0630: Alarm went off. Got up late due to late bedtime/ felt tired… slow moving.
0645-0800: Kids up, to school, shower and got ready for video call.
0800-0815: Breakfast
0815: At my desk to start a full day of training a new employee.
0815-1200: Work. Connected by video call all morning for new employee’s first day. Interruption at 10:00 to go pick up Ethan from school… sick with stomach flu… ugh.
1200- 1300: Attended Transplant Grand Rounds. Walked inside while listening to the talk for 20 minutes of it = my only “exercise” of the day….
1300- 1330: Lunch break. Stood in kitchen and ate, checked on Ethan. 30 minutes flew by.
1330- 1615: Back on video call for entire afternoon. Talking, talking, talking… tired of talking….
1615- 1700: Wrapped up some other work loose ends, emails.
1700- 1715: Ran to gas station to buy Ethan some Gatorade and couple other things.
1715- 1800: Made spaghetti and ground turkey for Asher- dinner.
1800-1830: Drove him to/ from swim practice drop off.
1830- 1930: Sat at desk in sunroom and worked on urgent prep for home swim meet our team is hosting this weekend.
1930-2005: Meet Committee Zoom meeting
2005-2030: Ran to pick up Asher from practice (late!! Coach had to wait for me! Oops… I had a good excuse though, since I was on the swim meet committee meeting….).
2030-2130: Back at desk, more meet prep that I never got to this weekend, dealt with a bunch of emails from swim parents.
2130: Asher to bed. (Ethan was basically already in bed/ sleeping most of the day. Poor kid…. I think turned a corner by bedtime though. Definitely still staying home again today however.)
2130-2200: Straighten up house, do a few dishes, put leftovers away, etc.
2200-22:29: Get ready for bed, wash face, read a chapter of my book.
2230: Lights out.
And that is why I didn’t work out Sunday or Monday, and according to my Apple watch, only got ~5,000 steps yesterday. (Which all things considered, I feel is actually fairly decent!).
I am sure someone with more superhuman power than I would have managed to finagle these last 2 days to fit in workouts…. but I honestly couldn’t see any great windows of opportunity. I just had other stuff I had to do!
The very late Sunday night obviously did me no favors; it made me tired and erased any early morning window on Monday. It was an abnormal/special night though, with my parents here + the whole Superbowl thing.
Anyway! It is what is is. I’m fine with it, overall, though mildly annoyed, because I really greatly prefer to stick to my schedule.
Training someone at work for these next ~4 weeks or so is definitely going to require some forethought, because by the nature of it, it means I won’t have the same level of flexibility I normally do (when I’m just working solo!) to fit the gym in or stretch my lunch breaks.
The swim meet prep also clearly threw a big wrench in my day yesterday too. Fortunately, that will be over this weekend…. (But then some other “interruption” will inevitably slide into my day or week…. So I guess I’ll just have to roll with it and do the best I can.)
Can anyone relate to this?? Sometimes it feels like there literally just aren’t enough hours in the day.
Daily Gratitude:
I am glad Ivan made it home safely last night! I heard him come in around 2 a.m. They had a 6:30 p.m. flight out of Mexico, plus then the drive from Chicago.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Um, yes. There are never enough hours…ever!
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Totally! Counted yesterday and our oldest has had with a club or high school swim meet 9 of the last 12 weeks! Of the 3 weeks off-two were Xmas and NY week! That doesn’t include our youngest more low key swim and basketball. Was wondering why I was feeling so stressed-and I’m not the one swimming:).
Bet having Ivan gone changes the rhythm of things too! Wishing you a week where you can find pockets of time for you:)!
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Oh my gosh, that’s a LOT of meets! They are so fun but also…kinda draining and just simply take up a lot of time! And I totally agree- I always feel weirdly exhausted after a meet, too, although I’m most definitely not the one swimming. haha….
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Definitely give yourself a break and recognize that the last couple of days were way too packed with stuff to fit workouts in, especially with a sick kid and solo parenting! You clearly weren’t sitting around twiddling your thumbs! I hope no one else gets the stomach bug. Those are the worst!!
The next couple of days will be interesting for me as I am traveling for work so I have no control over my days. And the sales rep I am traveling with doesn’t live in Texas – she’s traveling from Colorado. So I think we will be having dinner together at night. Hopefully we don’t run out of things to talk about. Ha! She seems very cool/nice and also is a mom. Often when I am traveling, I can get at least one night free but I don’t think that will happen this week. So it’s not likely I will close my rings but oh well! Life happens and I will get back on track eventually… but not next week since I travel again!!
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I don’t have half the obligations you do, but I find myself wondering how I spent my time and how things just don’t get done! I think you need to sometimes give yourself some grace because you’re not 100% in control of your own time right now. There will come a day when you have more freedom and flexibility and until they, you’re just doing the best you can.
(Also, if you really want to make sure you get steps, get a dog. Or don’t. They’re expensive and always staring at you.)
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if i don’t workout first thing in the morning, I don’t workout. My issues this week since I got back is a lack of time to blog as I’m so busy during the day at work and too sleepy to blog once I get home due to jet lag. And that is fine. seasons of life, we need to cut some slacks and move on until the timing is right. if you objectively can’t find time to fit workout, then don’t blame yourself for not putting the effort. if you think you could be creative doing some physical activities during swim meet, maybe give it a try.
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and it’s true that after January life gets busier for some reason. hehe… I’m trying to figure out what I can drop/delegate so I don’t feel overwhelmed.
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I am the first person to tell you: I need 48-hour days. My day always runs out before I got everything done that I wanted to do… LOL
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