Someone in my house has their Ducks In A Row (it’s not me)

The other day my youngest hollered from the bathroom “mommy I’m done.”  I walk in to find not only is she done on the potty.  She’s placed every single rubber ducky she owns in a neat row.  As I stood there, exhausted after a long day, the metaphor couldn’t have been more timely.  “Well at least someone in my house has their ducks in a row” was all I could muster.

Have you seen this meme?

I’ve seen it posted on various Facebook pages often enough to know there are (many) others who feel the same. Each time I come across it, I chuckle because I can totally relate.  The other day I mentioned my lack of organization to a friend. She replied “Really!? That surprises me. I always think you have it really together.”

So, for anyone I’ve been fooling: If you have ever thought of me as highly organized, it’s all an illusion.

I will say I’m not as bad as I once was, but procrastination and chaos are still very familiar to me.  Often I may look like I have it together but inside my head it feels like my thoughts are ping pong balls. Most days I’m  just hoping I don’t forget anything major, like someone’s birthday, packing my kids lunch, or coffee. I make lists and reminders, but forget to look at them.  I buy a planner every year but stop using it by April and do dumb things simply out of haste and urgency.

Keeping the Chaos Controlled ….it’s for my Health.

How I care for myself, with fitness and nutrition: I’m on track. If there’s something that can derail me, it’s when busy days, haste and urgency spill into my house. We end up running from place to place, deadline to deadline. Just taking care of the things that are in your face and HAVE to be done. My home starts to get out of control and cluttered (someone out there can relate… I hope) and it gets harder to maintain anything.

For me, health and organization go hand in hand. So even when I’m not completely organized (which is most of the time), if I just keep the house picked up to maintain the appearance of organization, I find it easier to eat well and get my exercise in.  Controlled chaos, that, I can function in. Even though my thoughts may be ping ponging all around inside my head, I can keep it together as long as I keep my house from looking like a tornado went through. Maintaining the appearance of calm keeps me going.

I am self aware enough to know what makes MY crazy come out.  When my house is chaos everything including how I care for myself falls apart. This may not be the same for everyone. You may be able to separate it all. But for me when things look crazy, I loose control.  So  I’ve been learning to keep things looking sane and maintain a (very flexible) routine.

Self Awareness and Making it Work FOR YOU

I encourage you to look at whats going on around you. What does life look like when you loose strength in keeping up on taking care of your body and your health? There may be something you can pin point. When you identify it, making consistent positive decisions for your health will become easier.

It may be that you have to say “no” more often. Are there things you are prioritizing that may need to take a back seat in order to improve your health?  You may be like me and just need to find 20 min to at least stack the 50 paintings your kids made that morning, do the dishes, and vacuum the playdough out of the carpet. There may be a consistent stressor at work OR home making you too tired to make the healthy decision and you need to be aware to tune in.

Identifying it will allow you to either change the situation or give you more power to push through when you can’t. Figure out how to prioritize your health. Just remember you are absolutely worth it!

Remember how I said I do dumb things when urgency kicks in?  Here’s your laugh for the day:

A while back my youngest and I had ran out to the field where Levi was planting corn. I locked the door, and closed the garage. When we returned home I hit the garage door opener at least 5 times before realizing it just wasn’t gonna work. It’s extremely windy here. The power sometimes goes out on a perfectly beautiful day. Realizing that’s what happened, I grabbed my keys and Mae and thought “thank God for the doggy door.” I crawled through, into the garage and unlocked the house.  BAM!! We were back in action. No, we couldn’t finish laundry or dishes or even get water. BUT I could get Mae down for a much needed nap.  SO THANKFUL!!

When I called Levi to tell him my genius move and how thankful I was that I could fit through our doggy door, he replied “didn’t you have your keys?!” I said “uh, yeah, but I had to get to the door!” He proceeded to point out the keys work for ALL our doors (front, side etc.) no doggy door entry needed.

Face meet Palm.

NOPE my ducks aren’t in a row, and they may not be any time soon.  As the saying goes: if I can just “keep them in the same pond,” I’ll be great!