Tuesday, October 6, 2009

The Fine Line Between Busy and Overwhelmed

With my phlebotomy clinicals starting this week (tomorrow to be exact), I've been doing a lot of thinking on how I am going to balance everything. I already juggle being a SAHM, going to school 2 nights a week, handling the business end of my husband's business, dealing with his chronic illness and freelance writing. Now, with the addition of clinicals three days a week, I am wondering if my plate isn't getting a little crowded.

There is a fine line between busy and overwhelmed. Whether you are a stay at home parent trying to earn some extra money or a full-time employee freelancing on the side until you build your business enough to quit your day job, this line is something you will encounter at some point. How you handle it says a lot about you.

Personally, I thrive on being busy. I seem to do my best work when a deadline is bearing down on me. This weekend for the very first time, I participated in one of NAA's pushes. With the incentive of $1.75 extra per article, I wanted to knock out as many articles as possible. I ended up doing 16 articles in two days, three of which were over 500 words. Considering my husband was in the hospital (yes again), my daughter was cranky because she missed him and I was fighting a respiratory bug, I'm amazed at how much I was able to do. But it all goes back to the deadline. I knew I needed to do as much as I could during those two days of extra pay.

However, there does come a point when I get overwhelmed. When this happens, I break down and do the one thing I hate to do. I ask for help. In many cases, it doesn't take a lot to get me over the hump-a friend babysitting for a couple hours, a family member jumping in to quiz me on my notes for class or my husband telling me to take a nap rather than visit him at the hospital.

Where are you on the line between busy and overwhelmed? If you cross over to overwhelmed, how do you handle it?

*Photo by Ryan Smart.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Hope all is going well! Being pregnant has really lessened my tolerance. I'm overwhelmed so easily right now. I was a busy person before I became pregnant, and now can't handle hardly anything. Hopefully my energy comes back.

Post a Comment