Comedian Jim Gaffigan jokes that having a fourth child is like being in a pool drowning and having someone literally throw you a baby. While I don’t have kids, I certainly have many sections of my life that take up a tremendous amount of time, energy, effort, and attention, to the point that neglecting any of them would result in a kind of failure or death.
I work full time in a job I love but that is also very demanding, often unpredictable, and not neatly squeezed inside a workday.
I am a writer of inconveniently timed bursts of inspiration that I also love but this also does not neatly squeeze into any time constraints.
I am a swim coach. For a high school team. That practices at 5am. Before work. While I’m having to let this one drown (no pun intended), I am currently helping new coaches transition in and so am still up, at 4:30am, in a humid pool area, with 27 teenagers.
I am about to start school for my doctorate in Literacy with a focus on Dyslexia and other brain-based reading difficulties, on a campus 1.5 hours away from where I live, where I will have physical class two nights a week.
My school is paid for (AMEN), but it also requires a research assistantship, which requires 15 hours per week of extra work dedicated to research projects. On top of class. And homework. And my normal job.
Okay, so before you get the wrong idea, I’m not complaining. Swim team started this week, and I literally just said to my mom the other morning, “Getting up for swim team makes me a better human.”
I am the type of person, when left to my own devices, often makes bad choices. Eat too much, watch too much Netflix, have one too many drinks at happy hour, skip my workout…
When I have no time, I am efficient, productive, motivated, and much, much happier.
Not everything is going to float at the same levels all the time. I know that. But I’d rather juggle in the deep end than prune in the shallow end any day.
So the point of this? I don’t really know. I’d like to say something inspirational like be grateful for all the craziness. But the truth is, some days I’m going to whine and complain. Luckily for everyone else, I’ll only have about 10 seconds to do it before I have something else I need to do.
Happy busying everyone!
