The secret to how I ‘do it all’

Sometimes people ask me how I do it all. From their end it looks like I work, sew, go to the gym, take pictures, and blog. But the truth is, it’s not like you think.

It’s not a balancing act, it’s more like a juggling act, and at any time I can pick three balls to juggle.

It may sound strange, but I’ve been studying my habits lately and I think I finally understand my ways. Here are the things I’m obligated to do or enjoy doing any given day (in no particular order):

Take care and play with my kids
Work
Get a good workout at the gym
Spend time with my husband
Blogging
Sew
Eat healthier
Read my current book
Clean my house
Cook food for my family
Sew something for my kids
Laundry
Plan some special craft or activity for my kids
Work on my church calling
Take photos for my blog
Hang out with my friends

There is no way I could do all of these things in a single day. While I believe I came close a time or two back when I had one kid and full-time daycare (actually, nevermind, I never made it to the gym back then), nowadays I can only manage to do about two of these a day, three tops. And the first two are obligations I HAVE to do every day.

Lately I’ve been choosing the first three. Adding the gym to my daily duties, as well as eating well (at least attempting to), and cooking more (seriously uncomplicated meals) for my kids. This means I haven’t sewn anything in months, my house is usually a disaster, I haven’t been keeping in touch with with my friends, or taking photos, and my blog… Well, you’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been here as much as I’d like to.

When I dive into a good book (I’m in the middle of the Matched series right now) it’s difficult to be motivated to do much else. Lately I’m incorporating the reading and working out in one. I’ll get on a stair-stepper-like machine for an hour and keep my book in front of me. Or I’ll pace my livingroom trying to get to my daily goal of 10 thousand daily steps while reading my Kindle app.

Sometimes I get on an awesome creative high and have a million ideas for my blog, and videos I want to make of my kids. I’ll work on special photo projects and stay on top of my house. But then that means I’m not working out, I’m eating more fast food (those seem to go hand in hand for me), and my laundry is piling up.

I actually had my laundry down to a science a couple of months ago. Washed and folded every night or two while I watched a show. That all went out the window once I decided to install MyFitnessPal.

Once I get back to my pre-pregnancy weight I imagine I’ll pick up another item on my list and backoff the gym a bit.

It’s amazing how much time, effort and energy kids can suck out of my day. They are by far the most time consuming task on my list.

There’s a lot I’d love to do every day, and maybe some day I’ll be able to do it all (when my kids are much older and more independent). But for now, I’m ok with spending a majority of my day making meals for my messy kids and attempting to keep them entertained.

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