The Overscheduled Schedule

I’m a big fan of an organized calendar. I believe it’s important to take your personal life as serious as your professional one, which is why you should schedule both into your calendar.

But since returning from winter break, I feel overscheduled. I vowed to rest during this period (almost ten days total of downtime) and loved every moment of it. Until I returned to work, and there was way too much to catch up on. Clients who needed`my time, paperwork to document my appointments, calls to partners, medical exams that had to be completed, clothes to be donated, the grocery shopping that can’t wait another. two. weeks. I’ve never been so tired after arriving home as I have been these past two weeks.

I would normally advise anyone in my place to just go through their calendar and start canceling their scheduled activities. Only I can’t since everything now on my calendar must be completed. I’ve painstakingly worked hard at scheduling alone time between events to give myself time to think and refresh, but everyone and everything seems to be an emergency lately. The only solution then is to rethink my scheduling strategy.

For example, I can commit to scheduling only three clients a day and resign to moving any medical appointments for the end of the week, when things start to slow down a little. But then there’s an upcoming zoom meeting I have to squeeze in, or a work meeting I forgot about. The obligations go on and on, like a conversation in my head that’s spun it’s way into a rant I can’t shake off.

I know that within time, the days will slow down and I will yearn for the hustle and bustle. Any type of overscheduling is better than sitting in your office for three hours waiting for the next client to show up. Until then, I’m going to take it one day at a time, cancel appointments when the opportunity arises, and just ride with the tidal wave until peace overcomes my time once again.