Juggling is my middle name. No matter how much I try to manage my time doing everything, I still feel like I'm running here and there ineffectively. It' s like my mind never stops thinking about what should I do next. This is done, now that, after that then this, and ups, almost forget that one and so on ... Yes off course, no one stops thinking until they stop breathing, but there are times I feel like I do not think at all, or I wish I don't.
Sometimes the things running in my head are simple daily activities, like signing my eldest's fieldtrip permission form, groceries list, texting my maid asking her to buy food for my sons' hamsters, going to the bank, and drop off the laundry. It also can be usual routine at the office: signing letters, weekly reporting to my boss, meeting clients. But there are times that routines are no longer easy and become roller coaster. Does not mean that things go wrong or I fail to comply ... It's just not right ...Chaos ... Back to back meeting while my youngest is sick and lying down in the first aid room, waiting for me to pick him up; or realize that I left my adaptor at home while I need it for presentation; or could not get through my mom while I need her to take care of my sons because of my meeting is extended and my husband is still with clients. These are the times that I wish, I really wish, to be able to drop all, ignore, and sleep. Yes , sleep :)
The chaos doesn't happen everyday, well, only most of the days in a week. Sometimes it happens only several hours in a day. Don't take this wrong, I have my relax time also, when I can sit down on my chair, having a cup of coffee and take a look on some budget reports calmly (yeah, right!). I also enjoy some longer lunch time with my colleagues, which is quite rare. Or a short and sweet BBM chat with my husband once in a while, such a recharging break. Then I feel ready for the next chaos episode.
Chaos do happen. At that time you feel like a juggler, performing with a circus for hundreds of people. Lights on you, people are watching you juggle some balls altogether, holding their breath ... They are waiting for you to drop one ball and cry ... Sometime one ball fall down, but it is not the end of the universe. You can always pick it up and juggle again and everybody cheers.
I have an iPad, a laptop, and a blackberry that help me juggling with my work and schedules and my roles as a wife and working mother. But the thing that rescue me from an exhausting day is a small notebook. A real notebook, with papers. There I put all my list of things to do and at the end of the day I checked those I have done. I check or cross the completed assignments or tasks with colorful markers. Sometimes I even write down DONE, bold, underlined, and with exclamation mark. Doing it gives me a happy feeling. Simply happy. And happiness gives you strenght for the next day. And I love walking into the stage, juggling happily.