The back-to-school season always features a lot of extra stuff. For instance, I went to our kids’ fourth back-to-school night on Wednesday. My husband wound up at three of them last week while I was traveling. Yes, the 5th and 8th graders had different nights, despite being in the same school, which was in some ways nice because he got to see both sets of teachers, but it meant the nights added up.
Back-to-school season also requires schedule adjustments. One logistical challenge: when desired activities overlap. But I got to celebrate a little schedule win this week. The 10-year-old wants to do cross-country at the middle school. He also is really enjoying a pottery class that meets on Tuesday afternoons. I was worried cross-country would involve Tuesday afternoon practices, but in fact the meets are always on Tuesdays, and since it’s only a “club” sport for 5th graders (PA only has 7th and 8th grade compete in official middle school sports) he will never have practice on Tuesdays. Amazing.
In the meantime…if you are doing my September Reset, I hope it is going well! We’re in the middle of learning various time management strategies that I think can make life more doable. For instance, today’s strategy is to “Build in open space.” I try to make Friday a lighter day, and I also celebrated some additional open space yesterday when I cranked through my business taxes faster than the time allotted. (This often happens but I so hate doing it that the time necessary expands in my mind.) I did a lot of thinking and pondering a novel idea. Is anyone else doing NaNoWriMo? I’m looking for some accountability…
If you are doing the September Reset, please consider clicking through to the Online Portal from the emails so you can work through the strategies. I find these questions really do help with planning and implementation!
Content this week…Over at Before Breakfast I’m interviewing the one and only Chelsi Jo about organizational strategies and systematizing your life. I’m a big fan of systems! I also note that “You won’t come back to it” — in a lot of cases, we won’t carve out time to finish thing in the future. So it’s best to only bite off what you can chew now. I suggest that you “Give yourself some longer days.” Sometimes we feel more creative when we don’t feel rushed to finish work at an exact time. It’s always a balance because setting some limits creates efficiencies. But maybe we can have a day or two a week that don’t require such a hard stop. I also note that “You don’t have to be cold.” As we come toward chillier weather, there are lots of strategies that mean no shivering, even if you’re cold-natured. I just turned on the seat warmer in my car the other day when it was chilly and rainy! One of my biggest secrets of adulthood, as it were, is that most cold-weather gear is designed to keep your body heat close to you, which in theory is great, but is insufficient if you don’t actually seem to generate enough body heat for this (I’m sure physiologically my body has a normal heat level, it just doesn’t make my fingers warm to wear mittens — they still get numb even with really good ones). So I need an external source. Then I’m fine.
At Vanderhacks, my Substack newsletter, I ran my fall fun list. This is a list I make annually to make sure I feel like I really experienced this season (this one is behind the paywall). I also wrote about how to “Keep afloat during a busy time.” In my free posts, I suggested people “Think before you panic” and that you can “Make yourself a haven” even in a cluttered home. Please consider a free or paid subscription. I have been thrilled to see how this newsletter has grown over the last 18 months. Thanks for supporting me and my work!