Anyone else having trouble making the switch from "island" (summer) time to real, regular, gotta be somewhere on time, time? Because I am having trouble, this is gonna be a quick post. Two things that get in our way . . . .
NUMBER ONE - we don't create margins/buffers/white space around each activity. If you are realistic and look at what you have assigned yourself (or life has assigned you) for the week you will probably find you are over booked. The margins, buffers and white space are what keep you cheerful, positive, optimistic, and give you a fighting chance. Dude, there IS traffic, there WILL ALWAYS BE traffic. In the middle of the night you might be able to get from point A to point B in 20 minutes, but by the light of day you KNOW there will be construction, and you know you will forget something, and maybe the Presidential motorcade shuts down 17th Street (hi, this was me last night!) PLAN FOR IT. We make ourselves crazy, we yell at our kids, we shame our spouses when we don't have margin/buffer/white space. Everyone please take two things OFF your calendar for this coming 7 days, then add in 10 minutes to ALL of your estimated car trips. Call me next week, tell me all the delicious things that happened to you in those margins, buffers, and white spaces.
NUMBER TWO - we are not realistic. We are working full time and sign up to volunteer like we have 20 extra hours a week. Or we enroll in a class, but don't add in the 12 hours of studying PER WEEK we need to complete to get the A we are looking for. Maybe we LOVE to agree to do things, that moment of possibility, but we never actually get to doing the THING we said we'd do. Or we might over book, double book and then spend a bunch of our time re-scheduling, re-jiggering, apologizing and feeling bad about ourselves. The time you have is the time you have. Wishing, hoping, acting as if, dreaming, that you have more time ain't gonna make it so. So do yourself, your family, your kids, your spouse, your fellow drivers a favor and be realistic. Remember new realities get thrown at us every day -- we get a fever or a sinus infection and our energy is low. Our spouse or child gets injured and suddenly we have to do much more nursing/driving/caring for people then we were used to. So be realistic with YOUR current reality (and the real one, not the one you wished you had, or the one from last month, or the one you dream will be in the future!). And you guys, reality is WAY more fun then you think!