Juggling
Some days I feel like I’m a clown in the circus (and not for the obvious reasons, like the fact that I *am* a clown and that some days this place really does feel circus-like), because it seems like all I do is juggle.
I’m at home with my kids - one all day long, and the other when she gets home from school (except today which is a ped day and so she is home). I also have to find some time to clean up and do regular housework. I’ve given up on my dream to have my home look like an Ikea catalog or the cover of a book on Feng Shui, but I do still need to keep on top of the dishes, the laundry, vacuum up fluff and crumbs, cook, etc, etc, ad nauseum. On top of that, I work from home. I only have so many hours in a day so I can’t save all my work for the evening, otherwise I end up being up until 2 am and trying to get up at 6:30.
All that to say that sometimes I am trying to take care of my kids, pick up the living room, and do some work all in the same time frame. It’s a little insane. I’m grateful to have work that can be done in my home, but sometimes I wish that I didn’t have a load of unfolded laundry taunting me from the couch and I find myself daydreaming of having an actual lunch break where no one would interrupt me while I eat my food.
And like anyone learning to juggle, every so often I just drop all the balls that I’m trying to juggle and those are the days I don’t accomplish anything I’m supposed to - that’s when I realize my kids watched too much TV that day, there are dirty dishes in the sink, and I only got 10% of my work done. And then I just go to bed and deal with it “tomorrow”.
Other times I have great days where I get a bit of work done while my kids play quietly, I get the dishes washed while dinner simmers, and everything seems to get resolved in a nice little package.
Most of the time I’m somewhere in between where it’s not perfect but it’s not a disaster, and as long as the kids take the priority most of the time, I feel like I’ve done a decent job with all my responsibilities.
As long as no one asks me to start juggling anything that has been set on fire, I’ll be okay.
Do you juggle? What does each ball represent for you?
(Photo source - istockphoto)
1 opinion for Juggling
Kate
Oct 6, 2007 at 6:53 am
I have so many balls up in the air I can’t take the time to look at their colours or remember why I put them up there in the first place.
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