FOCUS

It’s been a busy summer. Just as I was finishing up the spring semester of my master’s coursework AND my first year doing a job that was brand new to me (without a lot of guidance or set expectations) in a place that was brand new to me, I had to start helping on the farm a lot more than I was accustomed to. When I had surgery on my nose a couple of weeks into my summer, my farm duties had to be farmed out, but then I start the two summer classes I’m taking towards my master’s. Just as my nose was finally healed enough that I could start doing more things/labor outside again I pulled a muscle in my back so bad that I could hardly do anything at all for almost a week. And just when that got enough better that I could do things again, The Bearded One and I, after lots of thinking and debating, sort of suddenly bought a house.

It was a whole perfect storm that led to the buying and, although we’re very excited about it, our closing date is closing in fast–just about a month away (you know, right around the same time I’ll be going back to school for the fall (for my job AND grad classes). So, in the next month I need to finish the two classes I’m taking this summer, go through and pack up the stuff I’ve accumulated in the last eight years living in this house, start getting curriculum/materials ready to teach something I’ve never taught before (to an age level I’ve never really taught before), attend a Weird Al concert and a family reunion, clean things up in this yard/garden, help get things ready to host another family reunion, attend that family reunion, figure out how I want to arrange the new furniture and organize the materials for one of my school libraries, and figure out how I’m going to run programming for four school libraries when I’m still only part time and will be teaching all 700-800 elementary students in my district once every six days.

But to get all of that done, I’m really going to need to FOCUS, which is the exact opposite of what my brain naturally does when I have a lot to get done. I tend to get overwhelmed and stuck in analysis paralysis, and that’s kind of where I found myself today. I had a fun and relaxing brunch with some friends this morning, but after I got home every time I thought about starting to work on something, my brain conveniently stopped me from thinking about what I should be doing and just kept mindlessly scrolling on the social medes, or taking the dog on a long walk, or even playing sudoku on my phone while watching the last couple episodes of Ms. Marvel.

I’m going to bed now (I nodded off a second ago while trying to write this post…), but I’ve really got to focus for the next few weeks, and make sure I’m making some progress every day. If you have any tips for moving, packing, organization, or time management, let ’em fly! I’m going to need all the help I can get these next few weeks!