For me, the most difficult part of being so busy and having so many roles is the challenge of staying present in any given moment. I once described my life as a perpetual conference with sessions going on at all hours of the day and night and all (or nearly all) of the sessions looked good. Every moment of every day I have to decide which session I am going to walk into. Will it be the student session? Lactation consultant? Working out? Parenting? Homeschooling? Home keeping? Graduate assistant? Wife? Friend? Eating? Sleeping? And what if I just want to hang out in the hall and either take some down time or chat with whoever might be available? Where can that fit in with all of this?
And the kicker is that non of the sessions are recorded or offered in a different time slot - though similar ones may be offered at future points, this is not guaranteed.
To the best of my ability I try to view abundance in time. This is helped when I am able to be deliberate about how I spend my time. Not that every moment has to be "productive" in the protestant work ethic type of way, but that if I am not doing something "productive" it is something that I have decided to be doing. When things come up that feel like they take that control away from - that is when I can really start to panic and feel overwhelmed.
I have not chosen to have every one of these sessions to be part of this conference all at the same time, but at least I am mostly enjoying them all. If I get the opportunity to set some aside for a respite I will take it (certain ones, that is). In the meantime, here I am, trying to figure out which room to go in to next.
