Have you seen the tale that occasionally makes the rounds on Facebook, called "I'm Going To Bed"? It compares the difference between a man and a woman "going to bed". The woman busies herself with an onslaught of little tasks - picking up toys, putting away dishes, locking the back door, packing lunches, folding clothes - and the man? He simply goes to bed. I'm not posting here tonight to draw a generalized comparison between the sexes, but I will say this: I am becoming that woman!
Tonight I put Jackson down after his bottle, and thought to myself, "Right! Time to get ready for bed!"
Tonight's bed time routine included, but was not limited to: bringing in the nappies on the line, filling the water bottles, putting away Jackson's clean clothes, changing our bed sheets, cleaning out the sink, packing Chris's lunch, finding Jackson's Child Health folder (4-month shots tomorrow! Wah!), putting away the dog bowls, sticking vinyl decals on Jackson's wardrobe (I've been meaning to do it for weeks!), and now here I am sitting down to write a blog post about it all. Yep, bed is still the goal. Aaaaany minute now. But since becoming a Mum, these energetic bursts at night are how I get things done! Before Jackson, I was more like the man in the tale. After an evening of watching TV with Chris, I would yawn, call it a night, jump in the shower and snuggle up under the sheets. Usually by 9pm. It sounds nice, doesn't it? But the interesting thing is, before Jackson, before I had these designated little pockets of time in which to achieve things, I had a lot less motivation. Dishes would pile up. The sheets would stay, unchanged, on the bed for an obscenely long time. Laundry would happen in a mad panic on a Sunday afternoon when I realized that we had no clothes for the week ahead. The mess would slowly pile up around us. There was always the promise of more time in which to do those things, but instead of using that time, I just imagined that at some point I would.
I'm far from being the perfect house keeper (please do not inspect my floors. Ever.) But I am seeing improvements. I'm enjoying the productivity of it all. And although it's difficult having less time to work with, it seems to be a good thing for me. I know when I worked, if I had one easy job to do for the day, I was sluggish. Easily distracted. I could get to the end of the day and actually, that one easy job might not have been completed. But as soon as I had a lot on my plate, and a short amount of time in which to do it - I was in my element. I could get it all done with time to spare.
How about you? Do you thrive more under pressure? Do you have lots of time (and discipline!) on your side in which to get things done?
Now! I'm going to bed (for real).
Good night
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