This has been a hard couple of weeks. School is out and I still haven’t quite found my feet yet.
I was super crabby yesterday because it seemed like nothing went according to plan. I’d start do to something, and get interrupted. And this went on all day long. Not a single thing on my substantial list got done, despite my best efforts. At the end of it, I was so frustrated and fed up I couldn’t stand myself (and no one else could stand me either!).
The only consolation is that I know I’m not alone, because I’ve talked with clients and other moms who are also feeling ungrounded and at loose ends.
Why does the end of the school year and the beginning of summer throw us into such a tailspin?
I had a huge lightbulb moment a few weeks ago as I was reading Kathy Waddill’s The Organizing Sourcebook: Nine strategies for simplifying your life.
Her take on what ‘being organized’ means rocked my world- in a good way.
She says that being organized is when your systems match your life as you are currently living it. Being disorganized results from a mismatch between your systems and your real life.
No wonder….
No wonder things are a little topsy-turvy right now. Real life has changed rather substantially from a couple of weeks ago and the systems haven’t yet caught up.
My regular times for doing things have gotten all messed up, and so I’m spinning around trying to remember what I’m supposed to be doing and figure out when I’m going to get it done. Some things just haven’t happened (like writing for the blog.) Others are happening, but much more sporadically and randomly than usual.
A funny example: Like you probably do, we have a routine in the morning that doesn’t vary too much throughout the school year. AJ wakes up, gets dressed, eats breakfast, brushes his teeth, makes sure his backpack is ready to go, and we’re out the door.
When we don’t have school, he wakes up, maybe gets dressed, maybe not. Gets himself breakfast and… hardly ever remembers to brush his teeth.
And honestly I can’t really give him a hard time about it, because it’s so built into the morning routine that without the regular sequence of events, I forget to remind him.
And it’s not just the daily routine that’s gotten thrown out of whack. The milestones of the week have dropped out or changed. Our violin lesson has been on Monday for two years, and this summer it’s been changed to Tuesday. I’m still confused and am terrified I’m going to space out one week and miss it!
I’ve been doing the same yoga class on Friday mornings for a good long while too. But with swim lessons in the morning for the next couple of weeks, that’s not going to happen.
So, yeah… out of whack all over the place!
My old systems aren’t matching my new reality. And I’m not really happy about it at the moment.
In the next couple of posts, I’ll give some suggestions for how to bring things back into alignment, but for now I’d love to hear your thoughts on the transition between school-year and summertime.
What’s the hardest thing for you about this time? What do you do that helps?
Please share in the comments!
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Summer is all about my son now, so that means putting many things I care about on hold. It takes the wind out of me, but I try to get zen and do some goal-free living in the moment. That’s the only thing that seems to work for me, just trying to feel lucky to have some time to channel my inner seven year old(even when I don’t want to).
Someday I’ll enjoy these memories most of all.
well now! i’ve stumbled upon this post at just the right time! my kids have been out of school for three whole days and we’re already tearing out our hair. my husband and i both work from home and we’re having a helluva time getting things sorted. it’s usually me who takes the brunt of constant interruption and it’s already wearing desperately thin.
we’ve just had a sit down with the kids explaining that mom and dad have a unique situation in that we get to work at home AND keep them with us – but only if the two things don’t continue to collide. i am able to work part time and we’ll eventually find a schedule which works well for us but right now….oh my!
Georgianna- You’ve hit one of the major strategies that I was going to talk about: surrender. Easy to say, hard to do!
Denice- I’m here to tell you you’re not alone! My husband also works from home, so we’re in very similar situations! Transitions aren’t just hard for little kids!
We’ve just had another chat about trying to make this happen, actually. If finances allowed we would hire a teenage girl to come over in the afternoons to help keep them busy. My kids are 7 and 9 so they are actually fairly independent. I think it’s a question of being very organized and using our time effectively. They do have time during the day where they don’t need me as much but it never seems to coincide with my work schedule. That’s the part we’re working on figuring out this week. Should have it worked out by the time they head back to school!
Surrendering to their needs is a nice idea but it isn’t always reasonable. The house doesn’t pay for itself! LOL.