Life By Kristen

Adulting in August

I’ve just returned from a quick jaunt to San Francisco where I surprised my grandma for her 85th birthday. It was only a few days, but it was splendid to spend some time with her and my aunt, enjoy the gorgeous weather, and really unplug from work.

Of course, now I’m back to reality. After being away for a work trip, then having a big family party, working for a week, and then traveling to CA, I spent a good portion of last Saturday morning overwhelmed by all the things of life- the laundry, the unending tasks on the house to do list, things to do to help my mom as she prepares to move and sell house, and so on. I did my stint of complaining and then I got busy.

After my CA trip, I took a 4 day weekend to just get stuff done. Stuff at my house, things related to my Mom’s move. It always seems so depressing that I have to take days off from work to get adulting tasks taken care of, but as I reflect on it now, it was the best idea ever because things were finally taken care of and I feel like a weight has been lifted. It might sound mundane or that my life reflects that of a boring suburbanite, but call it what you will– I call it “getting things done for my sanity.” The time off was needed for a rest away from work stuff, but I needed to get things done for my mind. I cannot easily look away from clutter and ignore it, no matter how hard I try. It sits on the to do list and annoys me. Of course, if I spent half the amount of time getting things done as I do complaining and procrastinating about them, I’d have lots more time and sanity! But our minds, they are strange places.

Before noon yesterday, I had already cleaned the majority of the house, dealt with piles of paper/mail/junk, and gone through Little Man’s room/closet/bookcase, the kitchen cabinets, and the basement. Most of the items to get rid of were easy targets of things never used or broken. I dropped things off for donation, took trash out, made food for the week, did laundry, and so on. I felt like a productive rockstar by 1pm. I need a day like this every week!

Don’t worry it wasn’t all errands and clean outs- I spent time on myself to with a massage on Friday morning. I’ll plan better next time though– the massage will be my reward for getting through all the tasks!