Trying to Make Time for Too Many Things

Today’s topic is again inspired by something a faculty member told me this weekend during a workshop and is also inspired by the forces at play in my life at the moment. The faculty asked “how do I fit it all in?” The “it” in this case was the curriculum for their course, which is something all of us in education have all had to balance at one time or another. Luckily for us there are many different ways to present content which ensures both engagement and that the opportunity to readily practice the concepts is available.

                The same can be said for how we structure our days. We could easily fit many things in one day by combining face-to-face meetings, with Zoom chats, with text messages, and email, and tickets to a play, and getting the oil changed in the car, and going to the eye doctor- you get the picture. Though I have found myself outside of the regular academic routine I have had for many years, I have done an excellent job of filling up the time in the evenings during the week day. My obsessive list making means that I am actually trying to fit too many things into an evening. If I get home just before 6 or so most days and I go to bed around 9, there is only so much that you can do in 3 hours. But yet, I try to squeeze it all in, laundry, groceries, writing a bit, reading my library book, catching up on social media, spending time with my cat. I think it may be too much. I had every intention to cook last night and pack a bit away for lunch today- it didn’t happen. Tomorrow something I have to do on campus would be much easier with my briefcase on wheels which means moving stuff from my backpack to the briefcase- not happening. I decided to make soup instead. And I think that’s okay.

                However, part of me always questions when I decide to not do something I had written down as something to be done within a particular time frame. Yet, I have been trying to really be more mindful of where my time goes in the evenings and to give myself time to just chill and think.  I have trouble believing I am the only one with these tendencies, trying to fit too much into a small amount of time- especially for those in academe.  So my question today is- what is the most you have tried to fit in a short period of time (say 3 hours)? Did you succeed? Did you step back and say, wait a minute this is not going to work? Let’s share our stories of trying to make time for too many things and why it is important to slow down a bit sometimes.