Re-Inventing the Wheel

Did you ever feel like you were on this huge wheel and didn't know how to get off of it? Well, life keeps turning us in different directions and sometimes we have to just go with it.

I have to admit that for a while now, I have been feeling overwhelmed with everything that I have been doing over the course of the last year. First our big move to Texas, then trying to get our business going. Of course that has filled up a huge portion of my life.

Renovations set it and it was, eat, sleep, scrape, paint, sand, clean, dust, go to part time job, go back to shop, start working on renovations again. That took us four months to accomplish.

Next the exciting world of opening our doors. At first I wasn't sure what to expect, not knowing how our new clientele would accept us and bring us into their lives as a new place for them to meet friends and hang out. As many of you probably know by now, my husband and I own our own tea and coffee house called "The Sweet Stop" you are more than welcome to look at our website it is http://www.txsweetstop.com, but I'm not hear to boast about that. It is doing okay, we see new customers each day and our hopes build up more and more that it will be a success.

No, what I am writing about today actually is about everything that goes on in general in our lives. So many of us writers get carried away with other things that we do forget about adding in our appointment to write or when we get started we have to stop because something else has come up. I have faced this so many times I can't even count.

Lately, I grab every free minute I possibly can to write. First thing in the morning, when I have down time here at the shop, which is where I have been writing 90% of my time, even in the car at a stop light, in a small note book if I come up with an idea, I write.

Next, I started wanting to add in some of my crafts and trying to figure out a good balance for it all. Which I have to admit, hasn't been easy until 6 days ago, believe it or not. I got to thinking about everything I wanted to do. I also thought about the number of personas that I am, a mother, business owner, writer, artist, crafter. How could I do it all the way I want to?

So I looked at the time that I had available to me during the day, I wondered where could I squeeze everything in. Was it possible to do everything that I have been wanting to each day? The answer of course was yes and no. I needed to sleep to give my body a chance to recoop after each day so there was at least eight hours that I couldn't use. It was already taken. Then I looked at when I was going to bed and the time I was getting up. Typically that was 8pm and up by 5:30am. giving me a good nine and a half hours. A bit longer than I truly needed. I wasn't sure if I could handle getting up a couple hours earlier and then attempting to still continue with a normal day at the shop. So what do we do if we want to be scientific, we experiment.

So I decided that the next morning, I would get up an hour and a half earlier to see if I could be productive and acomplish things that I wanted to or needed to. I have to admit I dreaded this experiment. I thought about how I would feel, what I was going to do to start my day, if I was going to set up a normal routine. Many people of course have to have a normal routine where the same things are performed at the same time every day, if not, it throws them off some how. Well, not me. I'm weird that way I guess, not sure if it is a curse or a gift but, heck I'm gonna use it while I can.

There was a little recruitment on my part of the kids, they need to be a little more active in things around the house, of course this is still work in progress. I know that once I get them going, it will work out a lot better for all of us.

Let me tell you re-inventing the wheel isn't easy but it has been entertaining. Since hubby gets up at 3am to head to the shop and start the baking process I figured that 3:30am when he was getting dressed was a good time to get moving a little bit. You know the initial I don't wannas and stick at least one toe out of the covers to see how cold it is. I do that at around 3:30 now. Which helps to get me moving a bit and well, gives me a chance to be a little lazy. By 4am, hubby left our home to begin his journey to our shop, I proceeded to sit up in bed, turn on a light, grab my lap top and start my day by writing my first of at least 2 articles for the day. First I did a bit of research on each of the topics, then wrote my articles. I figured that later on in the day, I could get them edited before submitting them. Once my articles were written, I hopped out of the covers and started my "normal" routine of getting ready for work. I realized that I still had plenty of time before I needed to be to the shop, so I added in some things that I wanted to get done around our home and figured from there I would be motivated to try another project and see where I could fit it into my schedule. The project painting. I had been wanting to finish a painting that I had been working on for over a month, so what better way than to take it to work with me and have it loom back at me screaming at me to add to it. This worked. After getting the shop opened tending to our first rush of customers, I added to the painting. In between customers coming to visit us, I added a little bit every couple of hours. When I got to the point where I didn't know what else I wanted to add, it was time to move on to other things that needed to be accomplished, this of course was straightening up the store, cleaning and of course editing the 2 articles that I had written. Feeling the "I don't wannas" starting to set in, I kept telling myself; "Live for the NOW." I wondered why I thought that, but then shrugged it off and went on about the things I needed to accomplish. Mind you it only took me a few minutes to accomplish the necessary cleaning and straightening and then it was time to edit my articles. This of course always takes time. But, I managed to get it done and get the articles submitted.

I felt so accomplished. I couldn't believe the relief that I felt, it was like a huge weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. I felt that I could now set forth to conquer the world.

I have realized that we spend so much time doing things that we don't want to do, that we forget about what we truly want to do and feel guilty about doing the things we want to do. Well, we shouldn't. We each need to re-evaluate our days, find ways of well not only doing more but, making sure we take time for ourselves as well.

Which, I am happy to say I have managed to fit into my day as well, this of course takes place in the evening. My time to relax takes place after dinner, we spend time with our sons, finding out how their days have been, helping them with any projects, then it is our time. I will either read a book, watch a movie (typically don't finish because I fall to sleep) or take a nice warm bath to help me relax more. Works great I must admit.

There are still plenty of tweeks that still have to be worked out and in, but I must say that I am enjoying this experiment and finding new ways of making sure that I can live each day to the fullest and fullfill my dreams. Plus keeping everyone else in the family happy.

Today, I have written one article, plus my BLOG, I have managed to clean my bedroom, bathroom, do the laundry and start on my kitchen all before 7am. I also managed to work on my book a bit and now I am off to work on my second painting. And don't be shocked but, its not even 9am yet.

If you are wondering where I have found the energy for all of this, I have to admit that along the way in this experiment, I have lost over 30 pounds. Because I am up on my feet moving more not only at work, but also around our home, this has helped signifcantly, I don't sit still for long and when I do, it is because I am on a roll with my writing. No, I didn't change my diet much, I have added more fresh fruit and veggies into it and well, heck I enjoy food, so I eat what I want. Mind you this has gotten me into trouble with the doctors, but, hey, I'm happy.

I hope that if you are trying to make changes in your life and re-inventing your wheel, you are able to find ways to relax as well, it is very important that you do take time out to do NOTHING, if possible. You will benefit more than you realize.

Happy Writing everyone!