unplugging

Hi friends. <3

So, things have been a bit bananas lately. The Pilot left for airline training and was gone two weeks, and between the blog, podcast, Summer Shape Up, and taking care of the girls solo, I just feel kind of worn down. I treasure getting to spend my days with the girls and be the one who takes care of them, but when the Pilot is away (and our main babysitter has moved to another state), I find that every second I’m not actively doing stuff for the girls, I’m working on my business.

It’s been like this since the girls were born, and I’ve hustled along because I LOVE what I do and I feel so dang lucky to be able to have this community. I’m able to create an income and support our family all while staying home with the girls. If this means I stay up late most nights and have to be super strategic about my time, I’ll take it. 

At the same time, I need to find a way to take care of myself a bit more by finding some help/resources with blog stuff, or even taking a step back for a bit while I figure out my life. 

It’s hard to work in social media when you have small kids. It’s always been my goal to not have my phone in my hand (or in their faces!) while they’re around or awake. This means I do most of my work while they’re asleep or at school/camp, but since we’re in summer and they’re only in camp for 3 hours a day, it doesn’t leave a lot of extra time. I struggle with how to navigate blogging and social media as they get older. I have a feeling they’ll be around this virtual space less and less, but at the same time, they’re such a huge part of my life that their absence would feel so weird.

In the 11 years that I’ve been blogging, I’ve never really felt the need to “step away” because each day filled me with so much excitement and inspiration. It doesn’t feel like that right now, which is a good sign that I’ve hit my burnout point. I’ve spent a lot of feeling completely overwhelmed, mostly at the gravity of taking care of two small kids by myself most of the time, in addition to keeping this blog afloat. I haven’t had the energy to be creative in a long time, and I miss it. I want to create a home workout warrior video series, maybe launch an app, or even have my own studio here in Tucson. But when I finally have time and silence to work and pull out my laptop at 9:30pm at night, I really want to just crawl into bed. 

Beyoncé has the same 24 hours in a day. Gary V. says to hustle until you die. But, I kind of don’t want to live like that. I guess what I’m saying is I’m craving some kind of balance or normalcy, especially in our lifestyle, which is about to become a heck of a lot crazier.

Here are some things I’m going to do:

– Unplug. I spend a lot of time scrolling Instagram instead of connecting with others. I’m using it more like a lurker’s platform than a social platform, and one that often just kind of makes me feel like I could be doing so much more. Also, because they changed the algorithm, my feed is filled with accounts I don’t even really like that much? I *should* be on Instagram more because brands care a LOT about IG numbers, but other than posting on IG stories, I’m going to stop mindlessly scrolling through my feed.

– Plan small one thing for myself every single day. I used to be good at this, but it’s slipped away with everything going on. It can be something small, like 15 minutes to drink tea and read a book, or something bigger, like a girls’ night. If I don’t take even 10 minutes to do something I enjoy, the day is a series of tasks until I go to bed. 

– Take a day off each week. It’s really easy to get into a “work all the time” mentality, but I think it will do wonders for my sanity if I take Sundays off each week. I often use the weekend to catch up, or even better get ahead, on work stuff, but it’s draining to feel like you’re in a content rat race every day of the week.

– Read the tips in this post, over and over again. 

So, tell me friends: how are you crushing it? How do you make time to do things that make your soul feel happy while also accomplishing your goals? Anyone else dealing with burnout right now? What’s one thing you think would make you feel better?

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