Yes, there are things I don't have time to get done, but it's priorities. My kids and what they need come first. Please note it's what they need, not always what they want. If Sunshine wants her nails painted, but Monster has a project to work on, the project takes priority. Husband wants to go out for ice cream but Sunshine still has homework, the priority is homework. We all make choices in our lives and it's not all fun and games. Of course I'd rather always do the fun stuff. I'd love to travel and hike and go to museums, but, when there are things that need to get done, sometimes you need to suck it up and do what has to be done. That's how it all gets done. We all want to have fun all the time, but that's not realistic and if you're making everything fun, then you're setting your kids up to fail because bosses do not care if you'd rather be at a baseball game than working or if you wanted to go out drinking instead of getting reports done.
For everyone who knows me, you know my children aren't lacking fun things that they do! Our family does so much together and we make sure fun is in there. This weekend, the weather was beautiful. My family got work done AND had fun. Saturday, Sunshine managed to hang out with her friends, go to the pool, work on a science project, and play outside, while Monster went to karate, helped with the science project and played baseball. Sunday, the kids did laundry and dishes while Husband and I ran errands. By 11:30, we were all done with everything and spent the rest of the day outside. In fact, I didn't even see Sunshine for hours while she was out being a kid. Monster was a huge help and between, playing basketball and baseball, he even helped us reseed the lawn and plant bulbs. Then, we went to see Phantom of the Opera. Know what? Everything got done and everyone had fun and got a cultural event thrown in there!
It's all about balance. There is always give and take. Sometimes, you need to give up something you want to do for something you have to do. Since I'm all about teaching my kids life lessons lately, this is a great one. Prioritizing your work is important. There will always be excuses otherwise. As a teacher, I used to hear kids tell me that they couldn't do their homework for this reason or that reason. I loved when they would tell me they just didn't have time and I would then ask what they did when they got home from school and they made excuses of why they didn't get right to it and do it then. Homework is a priority. You can make all sorts of excuses for the things you are doing, but, when you prioritize, you will always find time. I'm not saying it's easy and it's not always fun.
I then have one more thing that most people don't have. Horrible anxiety. There are days my anxiety is so bad that I can barely leave the house, but I do. There are days I can't breathe because I'm having such bad panic attacks and I'm terrified of pretty much everything, yet I get it done. Today is great example of that. I got up, got kids up, got breakfasts made, lunches packed, got one kid to school (the other one got himself to school), took the dog for a run, did some shoulder therapy, went to the library, did grocery shopping, did a few loads of laundry, prepped stuff a meeting I have coming up, and picked things up for a girl scout meeting. That was all by 1:00. And I did it all, and keep going, while fighting the urge to cry and curl up in a ball and hide. I resisted the urge to keep my kids home from school so that I would have panic attacks about them being gone. Right now, I can't breathe because it's getting so close to dismissal time and all I want to do is to go up to the school and make sure everyone had a good day. That's what anxiety does and that's what I battle with every day and still get everything done.
Contrary to popular belief, I don't just sit at home all day doing nothing. I know it seems crazy to people, but I actually do work. I might not get paid, but don't, for one second, think I'm not working just as hard or have more time to do certain things than people who do work. I have a friend who works a full time job, has kids in all sorts of activities, and has a side business that takes up almost as much time as her full time job. Know what? She gets her stuff done, too. There's no excuses on why things aren't getting done. She makes time for the important stuff. She prioritizes. Our families are good friends. Would we like to be doing things together on the weekends? We would and we make time when we can, but we also can't just hang out every weekend with friends. Hell, we can't even hang out once a month with friends. Would be nice, but in order to get the important things done, it's not realistic.
So, in the wee hours of the morning, this was keeping me up. Yes, I'm Superwoman. How do I do it all? I make sacrifices. I find balance. I prioritize. I get it done because it has to get done. That's how I do it.