Feeling overwhelmed?

Do you ever have those days where you just feel overwhelmed? It’s not necessarily any one major thing that bothers you but maybe several little things just all piling up. I’ve had a few of those days recently. When they happened I’ll tend to beat myself up because I start to tell myself, “Why should I be upset? They’re just little things. I should be able to handle this better. What’s the matter with you, Tracy!?”

I’ll give you a recent example…

Eric’s been traveling a lot lately with his new job. He’s loving it, which is awesome, but unfortunately it has put a little bit of extra responsibility and stress on me. I have a whole new respect for single moms now! Major props to all of you out there!! Anyhow, on days that I teach at the college Eric used to pick the kids up for me. Now, I have to make arrangements for others to pick them up. Not a big deal, right?

Kid pick-up

Well, on Wednesdays it’s a little bit more of an ordeal. This semester I don’t get out of class on Wednesdays until 3:30. It’s about a 30 minute drive from the college to pick my kids up. So now it’s 4:00 by the time I get them (or even later if a student happens to corner me after class like this past week). Then it takes me a few minutes to load them up and another 15 minutes to get back home. Now, we’re arriving home around 4:45-5:00.

Church youth group

I volunteer as a small group leader for our youth group every Wednesday, so I have to be at church for a meeting at 6:00. It takes at least 30 minutes to get there, which means I need to leave my house by 5:30. Actually, I need to leave even earlier than that when Eric is out of town because before my meeting I have to take my daughter, who’s not old enough for youth yet, to the church childcare which is in a separate building. THEN…if my son has invited any friends to come to youth group with him (as he usually does each week), I need to add on an extra 30 minutes to be able to drive to pick them up. Basically, that means that now I need to leave my house no later than 5:00.

Isn’t it AWFUL that on some Wednesdays I secretly hope that his friends can’t come?!

A lot on my “plate”, but no time for dinner

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