Day One: The Most Important Day

I was excited to start the day.  After waking, I immediately went into my usual morning routine of making the beds.  That was when I noticed something very important; what it takes to derail me.  By now, it isn't much.

Alex had a rough time of it the night before.  He'd been up all night coughing and my husband Dan was doing what he could. Apparently some cough syrup had passed between them.  While I was making Alex's bed, I came across a spill of cough syrup.  I had to stop what I was doing to go get paper towels to clean it up.  That was all it took to drive me into despair.  My son had apparently spilled the cough syrup at some point the night before and my husband didn't clean it up for some reason.  Here I was cleaning up another mess, just like I do dozens of times a day.

My husband and my son both have ADHD. Caring for a home with an ADHD adult in it can be maddening.  The spill was another reminder of the extra work I have to take on because my husband gets distracted from doing it.  My mind was racing with the memories of a thousand wrongs he'd made me suffer because of his once untreated ADHD.  I poured over all of the times me let me down and then made me feel responsible for it. All of it was on my mind all while I was making Alex's bed.

So that's where my time goes.  Self pity leads to distractions; distraction from the pain of being constantly saddled with the responsibility of someone else's disorder.   This time, I was determined to not get lost in the internet. I was determined to plug on, even if it was just in basic housework.  I sorted. I collected. I put items back where they belong.  I folded laundry. I did laundry.  I ordered the week's groceries. It would be 2 PM before I realized that I'd done only one of the activities I needed to do; meditation.

I made a commitment to this. I am GOING to do it.  Therefore, at 2 PM, I started.  I had planned to spend 15 minutes per room, or 1.5 hours per day.  I started with a big project; my bedroom closet. I asked my husband to fold some whites that I had on the bed while I did it. He finished long before I did, but within 2 hours, I did it.  (Taking a break at the hour point.)

DONE! The bar and floor. (Still have the shelf left)

I was BRUTAL.  Or, really just very harsh.  A little mean, maybe. Whatever. There's a lot less in there than when I started.

It was then time for the math work.  Turns out the course I enrolled on Coursera was NOT a Calc I course, even though it was entitled the Calculus of Single Variable.  I listened to the first lecture and followed everything, but I couldn't do the homework.  So, I enrolled in a different Calc I course entitled "Calculus One".  Then I took to ThatTutorGuy.com for a review of trigonometry.

That Tutor Guy - Mathematics

It's now past 4:30.  I still have to make dinner, do a creative project and get to the gym.  The gym closes at 7 PM.  It was raining cats and dogs. There were other obstacles such as feeling pretty yucky.  I persevered.  After all, if I fail on my first day, that's a pretty epic fail.

I arrived at the gym at 6 PM.  I finished at 6:45.  I dashed back home to make dinner; Teriyaki Salmon with white rice, steamed broccoli and eggplant slices.   Alex was too sick to eat.  By the time I cleaned up from dinner and showered from the gym, it was already past Alex's bedtime.  (No worries about that, though. He was running a fever and had been sleepy anyway.)

It's now nearly 9 PM.  I'm exhausted. I realize that there's not much creative energy in me left.  Fearing that may happen, I had filled out a new journal page from Christine Zimmer of Grace is Overrated.

Grace is Overrated

Among other cool printables, Christine has shared an awesome collection of journal pages; Just about 50 in all plus a holiday and birthday page.  I downloaded them years ago and haven't yet completed a set. Since I need do only one a week, perhaps this will be the year I complete them. I filled it out over dinner.  I also did some thinking about redoing my photo wall.  I've decided that I will replace the photos with Alex's art, different photos of our usual activities/adventures and perhaps even decorate the frames.  I believe that I may start on this tomorrow.

The awareness assignment from Cheri Huber was to take some moments of quiet for oneself.  I suppose I did that frequently during the day.  I took moments away when I needed a break.  I took moments coming back from the gym.  I took moments pampering myself after the shower.  I took moments after Alex had gone to bed.

So the tally looks like this

1) Meditation: AM - Done; PM - a few minutes contemplating the lesson.
2) Clutter Clearance - Done in SPADES.  I kicked this one's boo-tay today.
3) Gym attendance - I did it!! 30 minutes of interval jogging.
4) Math study - At least 30 minutes, even if I had to restart elsewhere.
5) Creative Work - Not 30 minutes, but a journal page filled out and a plan formulated.

I rate the day a 6.

On mental effort, however, I rate it a 10.