I have spent the weekend trying to do nothing.
IT IS KILLING ME.
Take it slow?? I have gardens to dig and meals to cook and THINGS to do.
I am trying. (Yes, yes, very trying, ha ha). But I sit down with a cup of tea to enjoy the sunshine and immediately spot the hole in the gazebo roof where a possum swan dived off the house roof onto it, and swiftly discovered it was a Very Bad Idea. I try to enjoy the garden, but I want to dig in the green manure, and plant the lettuces, and look at those weeds, and I need to water the peas and... and...
Breathe... Breathe...
No, its not going particularly well.
Thus far two things have helped. The first has been the complete and immediate banning of ALL multi-tasking. I am working very hard on doing one thing at one time, and that thing alone. If I am putting on a load of washing then I am not stopping or allowing myself to be interrupted until the machine is gurgling away and spilling half its water onto the floor (rotten seal).
Its much much harder than it sounds.
The second thing ground me to a halt. And it was just a trip out with the family.
You see it was a friends 40th birthday breakfast yesterday morning, and those few hours of travelling, socialising and kid-wrangling drained me to a point where I teetered once more on the edge of losing it. You see, after we got back I decided I'd go and do something in the garden (lettuces being top of the list). But as I started to dig, I started to panic more and more about other jobs that needed to be done. I felt overwhelmed, exhausted and close to tears. I decided I must be hungry, but food didn't help the utterly wretched feeling of failure and anxiety, I just couldn't shake it.
Eventually, my exasperated husband intervened (he is a brave brave man) and I got sent to bed with Time Team on the lappie, immediately passed out and woke up three hours later. Then moped about the house being crabby until Downton Abbey, and then crawled back into bed.
Yep. Recovery plan going well.
I do learn though, eventually. Today has been help-yourself breakfast, lunch at Maccers, trip to the shoe shop to spend gift vouchers :), dinner from the freezer and doing nothing that required any effort when the kids were playing outside, watching tv or monopolising the computer - whereas usually I'd been tearing around cleaning things, or folding things, or cooking stuff. The multi-tasking has been up-graded to no-tasking (or very bare minimum tasking, as any parent will know), so maybe there is hope for me yet :).
5 people love me:
I hear you. After burning out, I realised that being a 'multi-tasking queen' is not something I should necessarily be proud of... that, in fact, my single-focused husband might be onto something. I am trying to be more in the 'present' because all that energy I was putting into staying on top of everything & thinking two steps ahead, all of the time, was running my adrenals down. Staying focused on one or two things got the same amount of stuff done, but with less stress and hype. It's a hard habit to break though!
And yes, feeling 'better' or somewhat refreshed momentarily, then fooling myself into thinking I had the energy/ time/ motivation to just get that ONE outstanding thing done, well that only found me back in guilty-exhausted-pitying-mummy land.
http://eatatdixiebelles.blogspot.com/2011/03/slow-mind-is-calm-mind-or-how-to-avoid.html
But, hey, you are recognising and working on it, that's a good start...
Multitasking is a killer; it's why my head starts spinning as soon as I walk into work. I like the sound of your recovery plan; live your life and really enjoy it. It sounds so simple, but we get caught up in the daily crap and things we 'need to do', when what we really need to do is just live.
One thing at a time when everything starts to be very overwhelming. The garden task is never finished and it is supposed to be relaxing rather than making stress. We women are very good at multitasking but sometime we just need to breath.
What's going to happen if some things don't get done? Nothin'! One thing at a time is good, and so is delegating :D Let some things go, perhaps cover the veggie garden and forget about it this season, start again in the Spring. If it isn't essential, leave it. Rest. rest.rest missus or I'll give yer a cyber slap! ♥
Hang in there. You can do it, I mean do nothing.
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