I've found myself wondering lately if there's some way to just add more hours in my day. I've gone over and over in my head trying to plan out and allot the perfect amount of time to get everything done. I even have a list of everything that MUST be done on a daily basis as the wallpaper on my phone. I'm a task-oriented person, and it's difficult for me when I go to bed at night really really tired and know in the back of my mind that I didn't get everything done. Then I start to freak out because I'm only eight months into marriage and we don't even have one kid yet! How will I ever survive motherhood someday?!? Then I just get really stressed out and I get sick for an entire weekend.
Do you ever find yourself feeling like this?
Well, if you do, you can probably also identify with me when I say that the first thing to go when I get really really busy is exercise. This week I found myself trying to calculate how many minutes I walk throughout the day if I added up walking to and from the bathroom, kitchen, bedroom, and parking lot. A little hint: it's not enough to count as exercise. Then, I found myself absolutely determined to get to the gym on Wednesday. I did go after work and while I was there I just kept getting frustrated that I wasn't in good enough shape and I started thinking about all of the other things I had to do that night. I ended up leaving before I even really got started.
The next thing that goes is cleaning the apartment. I tend to be a little bit better at this just because our apartment isn't very big and not everything has a place to begin with. When it gets messy, I feel like the walls are caving in, so sometimes I'll take a few minutes before bed just to straighten up or put clothes away (Jason is really good at doing this too).
Those are really the only optional things right now - and that means that I rarely get to them on any given day. Even the weekends are crammed full of stuff these days. Between work, church, traveling, freelance work, cooking, grocery shopping, errands, sleep and seeing friends/family occasionally, there is not enough time in the day.
I spent a good portion of our time driving back to Birmingham last weekend complaining about just that - a lack of hours in the day. I told Jason that I was going to have to create a rigid schedule for myself and keep to it or I was literally just going to fall apart. "I need more hours in the day," I said, and Jason - who is a very very hard worker and very very busy - agreed.
Wednesday I saw this...
If yesterday was any indication on how AWESOME getting up at 5:00 can be, I never want to wake up later than that on a weekday again. In January I began getting up at 6:30 instead of 7:00 to read the bible. For the most part, I've been pretty good about doing that, but I still find myself running out of time sometimes and it never leaves any extra time to actually get things done. Getting up at 5:00 provides me the opportunity to actually accomplish things that are on my to-do list for the day and give them the priority that they deserve.
Since I worked out in the morning yesterday and did my meal prep for the evening, I was able to come home, relax for a few minutes, make dinner, work on a freelance project, take a 30 minute nap, clean both bathrooms and the kitchen, and spend some time watching TV with my guy.
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| I made a taco bar for two. |
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| It was delicious. |
- Get home from work.
- Change for the gym.
- Sit down to put on my shoes to go to the gym.
- Decide not to go to the gym.
- Rush through making dinner and throw whatever it is on a plate in a huff because I'm stressed.
- Work on freelance projects and feel rushed.
- Get up to clean the apartment.
- Decided I'm too tired.
- Try to read.
- Decide I'm too tired.
- Go to bed.
This morning I got up at 5:00 and Jason got up with me. We were able to go for a walk just as the sun was coming up. He works late tonight, and although we have plans for this evening, we won't get much quality time together. Getting up and exercising together at 5:00 gave us an extra hour together today. That is time that I truly cherish.
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| Jason took this on our way to the Lakeshore Trail. |
It's times like these that I realize just how faithful our God is to take care of us. I spent a weekend complaining about how tired I was and how stressed I was. I felt helpless and hopeless to accomplish all of my goals each and every day. The Lord heard my small, whiny, pitiful cries and He didn't ignore me; He didn't say that my problems were too little or insignificant. Instead, He provided me exactly what I needed. I'm not much of a morning person, and the last time I got up at 5:00 in the morning consistently was in high school and that was out of pure necessity. But even so, because I know that this is a gift that the Lord has provided, I will get up an hour and a half early each day with joy because I've been blessed with more time.
“Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and the one who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. Or which one of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent? If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!" - Matthew 7:7-11
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