Good morning and Happy Monday! Did you guys have a good weekend? Mine was good- a mix of relaxation and fun, but I was so excited for RM to get back yesterday! Today’s post was sparked by the holiday a few weeks ago and the idea for putting it into a blog post was sparked by an email exchange with my friend Lauren. If you don’t subscribe to her emails, I highly suggest doing so because they’re always so thoughtful and so easy to relate to, which means they often spark probably longer than necessary email responses from me 😉
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Sundays are usually my days for prep & organization to make my upcoming week less hectic. What this means is I usually clean, do laundry, food shop, meal prep & blog- and while this is a great way to help start my week on the right foot and make my week easier, it doesn’t always leave a lot of room for going with the flow and embracing the “now”. This was fine before I met RM because I didn’t have anyone else to think about besides myself, but as RM and I continue to build on our relationship, I’ve realized that things like cleaning, food shopping, laundry, etc. are just not as important as spending quality time with him and doing things together that are not on my “to-do” list.
Does that mean I’m always good at forgetting about my “to-do” list and just going with the flow with him? No, definitely not. But, as the wedding gets closer, I’m really learning that in order to keep my sanity, I need to be OK with ditching my non-necessary to-do’s (non wedding related, of course) and do things that make me happy and make me smile… and maybe even forget about all the things that might be currently stressing me out at any given time.
So, when RM suggested last Monday afternoon (the holiday) that we go walk and grab a drink somewhere, I stopped blogging mid blog post draft & joined him. Sure, I could’ve started meal prepping, cleaning or gotten ahead of my blogging for the week (and I’d be lying if I didn’t contemplate doing this instead…), but the few hours we took to grab a drink (and wings… hey, when you’re at Buff’s Pub, it’s so hard to NOT get wings 😉 ) was one of the highlights of my day and you know what? We still got everything done. When we got home, he attacked the start of meal prep while I finished a blog post and created a new workout for my Bags & Beats class. By the time 8pm rolled around, we had a batch of kale cooked, sweet potato roasted, spicy green beans made, broccoli sauteed, 2 loads of laundry done, 1 blog post written, 2 workouts created AND we were able to watch an episode of House of Cards before calling it a night.
What I learned from that day is that no task on my to-do list should ever be made out to be more important than spending time with him, or really, anyone else who is important to me. When I’m in the heat of an “omg I have so much to do and not enough time to do it” freak-out episode, it may not always be so easy to see that life will go on if I don’t food shop, meal prep, clean, etc., BUT I have hope that each time I do realize this I’m just one step closer to it becoming instinctual. Practice makes progress, right?!
I’d love to hear from you guys, though. What do you do to help yourself relax? Do you tend to stick to your “to-do’s” over the “go with the flow’s”? Do you like to prepare for your week by doing meal prep, food shopping, cleaning, etc. on Sunday’s or do you do it throughout the week?
Burpees to Bubbly 
I just have to say, even on those days when the wedding is coming up, if you’re feeling overwhelmed it’s ok to even put those wedding related things to the side for a bit! It’ll all get done, I promise. It sounds like you’re in a really good place and you are right, it is so important to just stop and enjoy the “now” sometimes. Yesterday we drove an hour for ice cream instead of me working on my blog…so… I’m right there with ya! 🙂
You’re right, Stephanie- that’s a really good reminder!! Everything will get done, whether I’m checking everything off my to-do list or skipping it and going out for wings and beer… or ice cream!
I agree with Steph! There are times right before the wedding that you just have to put the small to do’s aside. Once of the best things we did three weeks before our wedding was go to Kennebunkport for a little getaway. It helped me unwind and destress just in time!
You are both so right! I’ve been getting better at doing just that. It’ll all get done 🙂 And what doesn’t get done, no one will even know about!
isn’t it so nice when you go with the flow and still get it all done?!? I’m all about finding a balance, whether that’s each day or over a full weekend. so Saturday i read / drank beers on the beach and was super relaxed, then was ready to be productive on Sunday – laundry, gardening and food shopping.
YES! It’s the best feeling 🙂 Sounds like you had a perfect mix of that last weekend!!
Hi Nick, Loved this post! I was so much like you in my younger days–I had such an agenda! I’m so glad that you figured this out at such a young point in your life. Today, I came home from subbing, and sat out in the sun reading for two hours–I could have been planting flowers, but just didn’t feel like it!!!! Mom
I know- it’s a hard balance to find, but so necessary! I’m glad you took time to sit and read rather than planting flowers- you need to rest your knee!!
Oh man I am the worst at this, I’m so much a get up and go type of person and get everything done and relax later but it’s true sometimes you’ll miss out on fun stuff if that attitude takes over but it’s a work in progress for sure. I think the hardest part too is once you’re married (as I am and you will be soooon…eeek) you can always say ‘oh I’ll see them after work, or I see them everyday’ type of thing, where as when you’re not living together time seems more precious for some reason…so it’s easy to fall into forgetting about putting time into the relationship every day and doing things together for yourselves! Thanks for the reminder! 🙂
I totally feel ya, Fiona! Naturally that’s how I am, too, but I’m learning that there are ways to do both and stay sane 🙂 You’re right about making time for each other, too. Sometimes we fall into that rut and I always try and make sure we get out and do a datenight or something else rather than sitting together watching TV!
You are SO rght! I have tried to get better at being flexible and amenable when it comes to pausing my self induced to-do list. It’s definitely worth it. Like you said, everything gets done in the end.
self-induced to-do list- I love that!!! because it’s totally what I do 🙂