When I worked in a restaurant, the expression we used was “in the weeds.” I never understood why that particular piece of vernacular worked its way into the culinary industry, but nevertheless, I latched onto it and it remains with me to this day. Anytime I’m swamped with work or ridiculously busy, I find myself explaining, “I’m in the weeds.” Like, what does that even mean? That you’re mowing the lawn? I mean, I’d be psyched if I truly was in the weeds because that would mean that I actually got to go outside and play in the fresh air somewhere that weeds grow!
Because alas, my friends, I am most definitely not in the literal weeds. In this digital era, we hear it all the time on social media platforms: I’m so busy. And I will admit that I’ve felt that way over the past few weeks too. You see, for the first time in my adult life I daresay I feel like I bit off more than I can proverbially chew in regards to time management. And truthfully, it’s an interesting feeling. In the past when I’ve said those three words–I’m so busy–it’s been relative. I mean, I was busy but I was still getting sleep and finding time to workout and catch up with my husband and grab dinners with my friends. It was those things that made me busy. But right now, it’s that other kind of busy. You know, that kind where so many awesome things collided at once that you barely had time to realize what was happening before diving into Item #1 on your to-do list?
And that’s the thing. Life is good even though my darker daily moments try to convince me otherwise. Friends, you know I was contracted to write a book. And I knew signing the contract that it would be a tight deadline. Some people have a year to write a book; I have eight weeks to write 60,000 words. Five of those weeks have passed; I have 2.5 weeks left. What do they say about looming deadlines?
But I’ve also–suddenly–picked up so many additional freelance projects that it’s making my head spin. I’m excited about all of them but the checklist is growing longer by the day. Will and I shot some photos last night for a quick project with Gore-Tex and Saucony. I found myself running around a train station at 8 pm on a Monday night, only to head home afterwards and start writing the article. Both were due today and I don’t miss deadlines; ever.
Big Horn coaching training has been going well! I’m spending two hours/week at the gym, shadowing and learning from our gym owner. I moved beyond shadowing and will likely start running some warm-ups soon, and I’m psyched for the progress. But of course, the dark side of my mind is screaming at me: “Hey, you do know the only time you’ve set foot in this gym in three weeks has been for coaching training, right? You haven’t lifted a barbell in almost 21 days!” Nor have I gone for a run. Or a hike. Or any type of activity that lifts my heart rate above a sit-at-the-desk level.
All GTX/Saucony photos by Will Rochfort
Did I mentioned we moved? Probably not because we kept a lot of the details off the internets. But it’s true! We sold our house back in the winter and began building a new home. It was finally finished two weeks ago so the past fourteen days have involved late night hours with our storage pods and moving dollies. Since our home is new, we are responsible for the backyard landscaping and I’ve spent the past ten days hauling ass to get the irrigation and edging installed so that we could get the sod down with enough time to water it in before winter truly hits the Mile High City. It was a tight deadline but I pressured myself into hitting it because I really, really did not want a muddy mess of a backyard all winter. Can you imagine the shenanigans Tally would have found with her own personal mud bog?!
Of course, I still have our family business. You know, the real job that I head to every single morning but rarely talk about! As is usual with small businesses, that is never without its trials and this season has been fraught with them. It’s been an eye opening year for me in that regard. I’ve learned a lot about ownership and come to some realizations about hypothetical future situations once my parents are long retired.
When I sat down to start writing a blog post tonight, I wasn’t entirely sure what would happen. I’ve been sitting at my keyboard since 1 pm, working on my manuscript. I didn’t know if I wanted to type anymore but thought I’d see what came out. As it turns out, a lot. Of course, it’s a lot of abnormal stuff for this ol’ website but that will do.
More than anything, the takeaway is this: life is freaking good, man. I may use the words “in the weeds.” I may have a weekly breakdown to Will, sobbing about the space-time continuum not allowing for more than 24 hours in a day. I may try to regularly fit an eight-hour work day into six hours so I can have a bonus two hours to work on my book. One day, I may try to unpack the hundreds of boxes scattered around our new home {and find our laundry hookups in the process. Man, we need to do laundry!}
But you know, if the worst problem I have in life is too much of a good thing, I guess I’m pretty okay with that. I’m not too busy; I’m simply conquering my life.
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