I”m starting week 4 of my new ‘normal.’ Typically my fall routine is filled with back to school duties as an elementary teacher- organizing my classroom, getting to know my students, setting up classroom expectations, reaching out to families, establishing effective routines and rapport, training my body to stand for 6 hours a day, planning lessons, administering fall benchmarks and preparing for open house. I would leave my house at 7:30am and come home around 4pm every day, 5 days a week, for 180 days. My body, brain and spirit are welcoming the change. I’ll share some things that work about my new routine and tweaks that I know I need to make.

I have always been a morning person. Typically, I would wake up at 5am and get my work-out in before my boys would even wake up for school. I loved the quiet of the morning, mentally preparing for the day. I did the same thing everyday- workout, make coffee (or matcha, or mushroom coffee), check in with Molly, make sure the boys are awake and get myself ready to head out the door. Now, I don’t feel as rushed in the morning but I still consider myself a morning person. However, I do not set my alarm for 5am, I switched to 6am (when my youngest gets up). Now, I start my mornings by making my to do list for the day, getting the boys off to school, making coffee, watching the news, planning for the day and knitting a few blankets. My work-outs got pushed back to about 8 or 9am which I never would have thought I liked, but my body is responding! I’m burning more calories and seem to have more energy. This is also person morning running weather! I do find myself having heightened anxiety until I get my work out in, so I may need to tweak that a bit.

Being in charge of my own schedule, with very little ‘fixed’ times throughout my week has taken some getting used to but I do consider myself a disciplined person. I find myself feeling guilty for ‘taking breaks, or ‘doing nothing.’ You all know that I LOVE to read- I devoured at least 20 books this summer. I have not picked up a book since September 1. I hate that. I need that back. I also joined a ‘book club’ with administration at my older son’s high school (he’s pumped lol, not so much.) We are reading and discussing The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt (Amazon link here.) I miss reading- I’ll work on bringing it back. My fixed times throughout the week are my classes at Providence College- I teach on campus every Tuesday and Thursday from 2:30-3:45 so I try to leave my house by 1:45 and I’m typically home by 4:15 then I feel like I turn into an Uber for my boys. This is busy blanket season (YAY!) so my nights are filled with responding to email inquiries, filling orders, prepping for blanket parties and following up with customers.

In terms of advocacy, I make my own schedule. I set up my meetings with my clients at times that work for both of us and I’m loving the flexibility. This week I have Open House for both boys on Wednesday and Thursday night, tackle football, flag football, volunteering events, games, practices, homework- oh my! We are in full fall (and mom) mode!

So all in all, I’m enjoying my new routine. I realize more than ever that I am a ‘to do list’ person. My lists have lists. It keeps me organized. If I’m busy, with a full to do list, I’m more productive. I probably need to work on finding better balance and turn off ‘work brain’ at some point during the night but I’m still adjusting to not feeling guilty about that. Like right now, I’m finally sitting on the couch typing, while staring at my blanket table (where the blanket isn’t knitting itself), glaring at the ingredients on my counter to make more energy bites (because my boys ate ALL of the ones that I made yesterday!) and I know I need to go pick up my son from football practice in 20 minutes. I really want to watch DWTS and AGT tonight but I might be sound asleep by 8:30. Do you make your own schedule? What works for you? I would love some tips!

xo,

Stacey