I got this. Bold statement. I know.
Recently a friend texted me and said “How do you have the time to update your blog, work on your website, do your regular job, and be a mom. Do you never sleep???”
That’s the moment that I knew things were about to come undone. You see, I’ve been at this long enough to know, that the moment you try to do too much, and the moment that the people around you start to notice you’re a rockstar, is precisely the moment things will actually fall apart. Because guess what, you have actually taken on WAY. TOO. MUCH! And it’s simply just a matter of time now before you recognize it yourself.
I have been working tirelessly for the last week getting my website template loaded onto WordPress. On a limited budget and because of my innate curiosity to learn something new, I am finding that I have to spend a good deal of time trying to figure out how to manipulate widgets and content, myself. I am also on a cadence now where I’m looking for relevant things to post about on Instagram so that I can get a feel for my brand and who I want to be out on the world wide web.
At work, my quarter just ended and I missed a ‘commit’ deal with a company I have been chasing since January! (See blog post “The Morning After.”) Travel wise, I have to be in Chicago on Monday on a 6am flight day for a day of speed dating meetings at a data conference where I am meeting with CIO’s of companies from Pfizer, ADP, General Electric, Apple, BMW, Rue21, Dupont, Kraft – all by myself! (intimidated much?), followed by a Tuesday flight to San Francisco where I have to do a “Dance for your life” on my Q3 forecast with a brand new CRO that joined the company just a few short months ago – who I have never met before. First impressions, right?
I won’t be back home again until next Friday. That is a total of four nights and five days, on a whirlwind business trip across the country.
What happens at home while you’re gone you might ask? Well, I’m not sure. And that stresses me out to no end!
Considering I own the daily responsibility of waking up with the kids, coordinating camps/sitters/playdates, getting lunch boxes ready, dinners, laundry (we’re now averaging 8 loads a week on a good week), and every other general request for snacks, iPad time, and spilled milk (literally!) …
I’m officially starting to freak out now.
On this particular morning, I suddenly lose it. I have major anxiety about how I’m going to manage it all. Ironically enough, my breaking point happens while I’m juggling 6 bottles of deodorant (just delivered via Amazon Prime today – even tho I ran out a week ago!) and my coffee up the stairs. I drop everything from my hands and spill my coffee onto my favorite rug and just start to cry. Yep. There it is. In that moment, the deodorant was ironically the metaphor for how much I had actually been taking on lately. Short answer… too much.
Were there signs along the way? YES. Did I listen to them? NO.
Well, for starters, the deodorant! I had been joking to my friends for days now that I ran out of my own and had to borrow a stick from my husbands stash. <WARNING> I hadn’t made dinner once. All week. <WARNING> I missed 2 workouts. <WARNING> I was 10 minutes late to pick up my kids from swim practice one night – when I had promised I would be there to watch them swim. <WARNING> I even contemplated deleting the weight loss app (that I was using religiously for the last 4 weeks!) for a community weight loss challenge I was participating in – because I suddenly thought “this is a waste of my time!“<WARNING> <WARNING> <WARNING>!!!
Look for your warning signs. Know when too much is just too much and start to dial it back before it all starts to feel like too much. Ask for help. It’s O.K. And then just keep on going.
Ladies, we got this. WE. GOT. THIS!
And if we do this right, then we might just have some coffee stains and musky deodorant to show for it!