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31. Married to the best dude on earth. Obsessed with my English Bulldog Kreacher. I'm trying to not suck.

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Makin' Your Way in the World Today, Takes Everything You've Got

Seriously, where the fuck did this week just go?  I am constantly asking myself this question lately, especially since I'm having more trouble than ever keeping days and dates straight. 

I work at a large accounting firm, but I'm not an accountant.  In fact, math has always been my worst subject. If by chance, you have ever had the pleasure of watching me attempt to calculate my 3x5, this will comes as no surprise to you (yes, sometimes my 40% magically becomes heavier than my 100% - whatever).  When I try to explain to people what it is that I actually do, it's exhausting, so I will spare you the boring details. In the simplest terms possible, I get paid to organize things, and I'm usually damn good at it.

I wasn't always this way, as my mom will happily tell anyone who will listen.  As a kid, I rarely knew where my text books were.  My clothes were chosen from various towering piles on my bedroom floor. I had unplanned science experiments festering in my closet, and on more than one occasion, I groggily meandered my way to school only to find out that it was a Saturday.  BALLS! 

Change came overnight.  I went from being a filthy and frazzled basket case to an organizational lunatic with obsessive cleaning tendencies.  I traded in spoiled milk for bleach, and notes written in marker on my skin to spreadsheets...mmm...spreadsheets <3.  Over the years, I created systems for the most mundane of tasks.  I made it so that no object of mine would ever exist again without a specific place that it could call its own. I resorted to maniacal color-coding.  I'm not lying.  I would color-code your grandmammy if she accidentally wandered into my closet.

This new level of insanity was relatively easy to maintain when all I had to worry about was showing up to work and ensuring that the local fast food establishments would continue to provide Brandon and I with delectable dinners.  After a 20-piece nuggie meal with large fries, various condiments, and a jumbo Diet Coke (gotta save some calories for the nightly pint of ice cream, people!), I could pay bills and organize the rest of our lives from the couch.

General life upkeep started to become increasingly more difficult as I continued to take steps to clean up our health act, and lately, I feel like the most unorganized person on the planet. I have found that no matter how hard I try, I can't keep everything together.  Little things are starting to fall through the cracks. I'm getting bills paid with seconds to spare.  Brandon had to wear his bathing suit to the WOD last night because I forgot that laundry existed.  I'm triple booking our social events.  I thought that Tuesday was Monday - until it was Wednesday.  The hard reality is, no matter which new systems I try to implement, no matter which way I rearrange, re-prioritize, or redesign our life, I can't figure out a solution for having more than 24 hours in a day.  With 8+ hours of work, planning cleaner meals, cooking those meals, taking care of shopping/errands, managing the finances, planning non-work events, investing quality time with the people I love, and getting appropriate rest, I don't know whether we're coming or going!  Inevitably I can get 80% of our lives in control before 20% of it gets blown right to shit.  I get about 2 seconds to revel in the fact that my bingo arms are shrinking, before it hits me that we are going to have to brush our teeth with gum if I don't get moving - and we don't even have kids yet!  When I refused to do anything but eat fast food and watch Law and Order, the days just seemed to go on forever.  Now, every minute between waking up and going to sleep is a blur.  It's cruel the way that all works.

I end each and every jam-packed day dizzy and exhausted, but still feeling better than I ever have.  So what am I going to do?  I'm going to learn how to let go of the small stuff for the success of the greater good.  I'm going to continue to prioritize our health.  I'm going to let a little dust build up without having a seizure, if that's what it's gonna take to keep healthy food on the table and our asses at the gym.  I'm not going to spin my head around and projectile vomit if I'm behind on the laundry YET AGAIN (but I am going to laugh if Brandon has to show up to a WOD in one of my bathing suits).

31 Heroes Update:

31 Heroes was my first CrossFit event.  I wound up getting through it alive, but it was certainly a major diarreah-inducer to watch two groups go before my turn.  The 31 minutes seemed to last forever while the others were doing it, but the clock flew by once my first thruster went up.  Brandon was my partner and we scaled big-time, but we got in 9 rounds when all was said and done.  The hardest part for me was the weighted 400 meter.  If you've been reading, you will know that running is currently a huge weakness of mine.  While adding weight to my already awful run scared me a little, seeing that the route was uphill almost made me fake my own death. Being that I had to scale so much of the rest of the workout, I promised myself that I would not walk any part of the 400s, even if it meant super barfing.  Every time I felt like switching from my sluggish jog to a walk, I thought about the brave men and women who make it possible for me to be free, and I kept my fat ass jiggling all the way up and down that hellish hill.  If you want to see some jigglin' for yourself, check out the link below, courtesy of the lovely Rebecca. Note: You may have to copy and paste it because I can't figure out how to hotspot that shit up.  


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOvgQxmwAiM


Most of the Guerrilla Fitness CrossFit Montclair 31 Heroes Team <3

2 comments:

  1. Jill... you had me in tears when you said "it was certainly a major diarreah-inducer " and then "seeing that the route was uphill almost made me fake my own death" -- LMAO!!!

    Keep up the great work sista!!!!

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  2. Jilly - you got this!!! You're right, it's definitely a lot easier to slack off and eat crap, but you're doing the right thing for you and Brandon, even if some stuff is falling by the wayside.

    Here's some tips from yours truly, Captain Obvious:
    -Set up automatic bill pay!
    -Set aside one afternoon or evening to cook a whole lot of food! If you can, prepare food for the entire week, divide everything into different containers so that you just need to grab one or two and go to have your full meal. Soup is also your friend here, I love making a whole boatload of soup (or chili, or whatever) and freezing half, so that I always have something if I need a good meal in a hurry.
    -Wake up an hour earlier. If you already get up at or before the crack of dawn, this may not be the best suggestion, but getting an extra hour to do little things (correspondence, a load of laundry, cooking a little bit) really helps! :)

    You are amazing and are making great strides, rock on.

    -Ants in the Pants

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