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Conducting an audit of how exactly your time is spent can be somewhat… daunting? overwhelming? confronting? ALL OF THE ABOVE!! I have weeks where I feel so burnt out from work that time outside of that office sees me as a giant couch blob. or bed blob. Saturdays where I do everything except for what I am ‘meant’ to be doing – and thats totally okay! But admitting that the rest of the world… yeah. that.

Most of our weeks days tend to follow the same routine, roughly. Exercise 30 min – 1 hour. Work (door to door) 10.5 hours. Household Management (i.e. cooking dinner, chucking on the washing, taking out the garbage etc) 1 hour. TV Time: 1 – 2 hours. Study: 1 hour. Sleep: 7 – 8 hours. Random: 1.5 – 2 hours.

Yes, that does roughly add up to 24 hours. Give or take! It can be quite flexible and change randomly from week to week – I am lucky (?) that the most demanding thing of my time right now, is work and study. The rest of it, self imposed and expectations. I have been learning more about creating sacred time to do things that i want to do vs what i feel i should or have to do, and for that reasons Saturdays are extremely different for me. Like today – I haven’t felt the best, so i have caught up on my recorded tv, practised my snorkelling in the kitchen sink, done two loads of washing and am now back on the couch. I will exercise later on today – and make Adam come with me because i need that little bit of extra motivation.

How do I prioritise my time outside of work? I look at the things that I have made a commitment to – if I only did things when I felt like it, I’m pretty sure I would have zero tenacity, even less diligence, and a very messy house. My highest priority right now is ensuring that exercise is part of my day more often than not – at least five days per week, no more than six. If i can’t do it at 6am for whatever reason, it is done AS SOON as I walk in the door, and we eat dinner a bit later. Four weeks in and it is still new to me, and as it doesn’t come naturally to me, I still have to consciously make the decision to continue to show up. For myself. Because I committed to doing it. To having the most healthy body for me – regardless of weight or size.

The other thing that i have made a commitment to, is organising our meals and preparing these and our lunches. As part of time planning, I sit down on Sundays and sort this out for the upcoming fortnight. But it also means that even when I can’t be assed, I still get up and cook dinner, or ensure that there is something to grab for lunch for both of us. Lets be honest – I am totally in winding down holiday mode and somewhat broke, so this week it hasn’t worked out so well – but thats still okay, because like the rule of healthy eating, 90% of the time we get there. Same with the household chores – and I’m lucky in the fact that Adam does help out. If i ask him to cook half the dinner so i can finish my workout? Not a problem. If I give him some direction in how to use the washing machine? That load of clothes is done. Sometimes people are more than willing to help and provide support – we just need to communicate better in helping them to know how to best do this for us. (rather than seething very loudly inside our heads whilst they are quite oblivious thinking that it’s all fine).

I feel a little topsy turvy this week – things have been getting sorted out with this humble web home, i am attempting to start and finish a uni assignment, in between feeling unwell and dealing with a bit of work stress. Added to that, we are on holidays from next Saturday and it feels like my brain is winding down already – you know those holidays that just seem to come at the exact perfect right time, because if you didn’t have one planned or it wasn’t happening like, tomorrow, you may just go to bed and not come out for a while? that. So have i been the best with my time this week? Not so much – but I still made the choice to show up to my highest priorities, especially when i felt ‘too whatever’ to bother. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t easy – i thought every day for at least 20 minutes about calling in sick and taking a mental health day, or just not moving, or not exercising, or not cooking. But that wouldn’t be serving anything, or anyone well.

My goals for AH (after holidays?) to focus more on my studies and this space. I have big dreams and lots of things swirling around in my head. I want to finish the year well with my studies – i do not have long to go AT ALL! I am excited – and I know that the first week we are back I will be revisiting this topic and building other projects and things into my weekly routine to see those dreams become reality. I want to continue to exercise, to create a space and time to build this community, to comment, to love on others, to continue our house running smoothly, to keep building our relationships with those closes to us, to be financially responsible. SO MUCH! It absolutely requires me to be revisiting priorities and roughing out a new schedule.

Most of all, I want to make sure that I show up for myself in my own life. I don’t want to jump into things half heartedly. And I want to finish well…. especially uni. It will be massive – one of the first times I have come through with a commitment to myself for education. I may do it day in day out without making much fanfare, but isn’t that just it? Showing up and giving it your all, regardless of who is watching or talking or checking in?

So, my time – I am generally a good custodian of it. When I know my commitments, my goals, my dreams and plan it out… we get stuck into it. I like that. I like that it is something we both bring to the table in our house, and that we are learning and teaching each other to break it down when it gets hard.

Mostly, right this second? I cannot wait to have that two week break!

< this, is a SYL ’12 post – for WEEK 15! I also cannot believe we are already 15 weeks into this! whaaat! >