Balancing Work, Personal/Family and School Life

Before anyone can say anything, I admit that I do enjoy taking courses. I finished college and my parents jokingly said I was going to be a professional student, and I can say yes, I am. There is something about the actual learning that I really enjoy. Yes, I get stressed and sometimes frustrated, but I normally enjoy the learning.

So balancing all the different parts of my life can get a little difficult. Running a small business with my husband does mean a schedule that does fluctuate with demands from clients. This means that standard work hours aren't always there. So the balancing of even personal and work sometimes can be a challenge and now add on assignments, exams, and weekly reading for school, and it can be very difficult.

I am one of those individuals that gets frustrated when I feel like I don't have control of my life. I am known to have long to-do-lists, and that is because I break things down on the list, so I can see progress. My to-do-list is sometimes the only way I can manage everything that is going on in my life, and I do put even the smallest things on it sometimes to ensure that I don't miss them.

As I am writing this blog, I am balancing two courses, lots of work and personal and family demands that I need to deal with over the next little while. Knowing that I have done this in the past does help, but there are still days when I want to just give up and hide and not deal with any of the items that I have on my to-do-list.

Balancing work, personal/family and school life can be a challenge, but it can also be very rewarding. Knowing that I can do everything that I need to do and still have some time to relax occasionally does really help. So, before I realize that there is something else that I should be working on today, I am going to do and relax for a bit.

Appointments

Why is it so difficult to know when to call and make an appointment with a doctor. I understand that with specialists that appointments are normally made months ahead. I am talking about making appointments with family physicians.

My father called his doctor two weeks ahead of when he wanted, only to be told, “that's too early to call to make an appointment.” To me if he called then it shouldn't be a problem. He was able to make an appointment but was told “next time just call a week ahead.”

For me, I normally have to call at least a week, if not more, prior to when I want an appointment with my doctor. It is very difficult to make an appointment for the same day. How do you know when you are going to get sick and need to see a doctor.

My husband is the luckiest because if he calls for an appointment, he normally can get an appointment either the same day or the next. He is the luckiest because he has the most flexibility when making an appointment.

I am not saying that you should always be able to get same day appointments for non-urgent appoints. What I am trying to say is, it would be nice if there was a standard for when calling to make normal appointments with family physicians. There should always be a few available if someone needs same day appointments, but it is the follow-up or planned visits I am talking about.

For people that work, it is sometimes important for them to make appointments a couple of weeks in advance, so meetings aren't scheduled and prevent them from getting to see their family physicians. For other people, even just a couple of days in advance is good enough. I think if people have a wider time frame for booking appointments, it would be the best of all worlds.

So, if I want to make my appointment two weeks in advance, please let me also know that there are people that will call within the last couple of days wanting appointments.

Knowing who you are

Lately, I have spent a bit of time thinking about what makes me happy and what doesn't.  It can be very difficult to face some of the things that you have hidden in the back of your mind for way too long, but it does help.

Being able to accept that things aren't always going to work the way you want is important when you want to make yourself happy.  Knowing that you are going to hit some bumps in the road is another thing to accept.  The outcome can be that you are able to face the things that have bothered you in the past and put them back in the past instead of dealing with them continually.

For so many years, I have been a person that put everyone else before me and never did things that I wanted.  Lately I have started to do things for myself and does it ever feel good.  Having the strength to say that I am important has been something I hadn't done in the past.  Now I am saying I am important, and I need to focus some time on things for myself instead of always for someone else.

Knowing what makes you happy can really make a difference on how you deal with things.  I continue to run into situations that get me frustrated and down, but I know I am who I am.  The situations may set me back a little bit, but at least the setback isn't nearly as far back as it was in the past.  I continue to think of the goals that I have and want to achieve in the future, and now I can say the future isn't so far ahead anymore.

New projects are now on the horizon for me, and I think I am finally able to say I am ready to accept these new projects.

Demanding perfection

I am one of those individuals that has demanded perfection from myself in whatever I do. I am not saying I just need to get something done, I need to have it perfect before I am happy with it. Ok, what I am saying is I basically demand 125% out of myself and a lot of the time 100% out of anyone else.

So, you can see there is a major problem with this thinking, and it is very stressful on me. I was brought up being told if you can't do your best, why do it at all. So, I have developed the need for perfection out of myself and those around me. Over the last little while I have come to realize that 100% isn't always achievable and time will just not allow it to happen. Knowing that I can handle not being perfect has been very difficult for me.

I know that I get really upset sometimes when I can't achieve even close to 100% when I am working on something. I take courses and so often I exceed what is expected on the assignment because I have to do what I think is enough. Currently, I am taking a course, and we are given a word count for our assignments, and it is very difficult for me. I want to write a lot more than I am allowed because I think I need to include more detail before the assignment is good enough.

Yes, I still demand a high level out of myself but have realized that as long as I try my best it is good enough. Trying to be perfect all the time isn't what I try to achieve any longer, as I realize my 100% far exceeded what others expected of me.

So, remember 100% is great but it is very difficult to achieve.

Being a friend

Being a friend means a lot of different things to different people.  A friend can be someone you hang around with all the time, or it can be someone you rarely see.

A friend should be someone that is there for you in good times and bad times.  You should also be there for that friend in both the good and bad times as well.  A good friend is someone you can talk to, and they listen.  This person is also there to support you when you need that support, but is also there to give you the kick when it's needed.

It is amazing when you find friends in ways you never expected.  It can be an online friend who you rarely see or a co-worker that you sit nearby.  Having a friend when you need one is very important.  It is also important to be a friend when you are needed.

Knowing who your true friends are is very important, because you don't know when you could need them.

Just remember, being a friend goes both ways.

Understanding others

Lately I have been extremely busy trying to get a lot of things off my to-do list.  I have also gone through something that affected me personally, so it did take quite a bit of my time and energy.  The personal thing meant that I haven't been as efficient as I would have liked to be, but things do happen that change what you can do and how quickly you can assist others.

This week I have been trying to get back to normal, but I am finding it rather challenging.  Yesterday was when I think I hit the frustration wall.  People are telling me to take it easy, and I will get things done when I can, but in the next breath they are asking for more and more things to get done now.  I understand that part of this is because things need to be passed onto me so that I am aware of them, but if I have answered the question, please don't keep asking me when it will be solved.  I have told you it has been solved, and it is just going to take a bit of time for the effect to finally calm down.

It is so amazing to look at what I have been able to accomplish even in the last few days.  Sure, it isn't as much as I would have liked but at least I am getting small things done.  Now to see what I can get completed today, and then maybe I can say I am getting back to normal.

Stepping back and rethinking

There comes a time when you need to step back and rethink all your different priorities. This has happened to me, and I have had to rethink some of my goals as well as my priorities. I was one of those people that had to please everyone in the past, and I didn't care if I was happy or not. Doing this causes a lot of problems because you don't really feel happy when you are doing some of the things you have agreed to do.

Being able to rethink your goals is a project because you have to think of why you are aiming for that specific goal, was it to please someone else or to please yourself. It does take some time because it can also mean redoing the goal so that it is more for pleasing yourself. Some goals just get deleted because when you realize you aren't going to achieve it and be even a bit happy, there is no point in doing it.

I was one of those people that had to please everyone, and I would forget about pleasing me. I came to realize that there are some people that no matter what you do you will never please them, so why try. This step was a huge thing for me to realize, and since doing that I have felt better and have given up trying to please these people.

I now have goals that are for me and help me be happy. I am not saying that you put yourself first all the time, I am saying you need to remember to do things that please you as part of your life. How you feel is very important because if you aren't happy, you can't really make others happy, or at least the people that count.