When I quit my job at the beginning of October, I was relieved to have so much free time on my hands! I could finally practice the piano, keep up on my housework, work in the yard, and sew my projects. In fact, I had so much time I could do all this PLUS waste hours playing computer games, checking my friends' blogs every day, sleeping in, and re-reading all the Harry Potter books.Life was great... for a while.
I have finally defined myself as someone who needs external structure. There would be days that all I had accomplished was... doing the dishes. The rest of my day had been frittered away. So much for getting so much done in my free time!
So I started adding activities: I decided to make all my Christmas presents this year, I enrolled in classes at U. of Phoenix, I got a new job, I added extra hours to my ballet job. And now I am always busy!
I feel a little frantic at times, like when I realize on Wednesday night that I haven't even started a group project for school, and it's due Thursday and no one in my group will answer my messages. (!!!).
But for the most part, I LOVE IT! I love being busy. I love the challenge that comes from having so much to do that you have to be organized. I did this to myself in high school, with all my extracurricular activities and schoolwork and everything, but I think I overdid it. I didn't get any sleep (hello, seminary!), and I never saw my family. I felt like if I ever failed in any of these activities, I would let everyone down, so I stressed out about it. I couldn't quit anything, because that would let them down even more!
But I'm trying to keep things balanced now. I make sure to spend time with Kevin, and I realize that I can quit any of these activities at any time, and while some people might feel let down, it is not my problem (if I give adequate notice and everything).
I have a few regular hours of free time: every morning during homeroom (I supervise kids in the computer lab), I have time to read, relax, blog, or write. And in between school and ballet, I have an hour which I have decided will be my exercise time. It's sad, but those 2 hours a week will probably make all the difference (that, and being up and about during school, not on my butt playing computer games).
And so much for the homemade gifts this year! Problem is: I still have this hope that I'll make the homemade gifts, so I haven't broken down and bought gifts for anyone yet.
Family: You may not get anything this year. Consider this your warning.
