Why Do I Do This To Myself?

Today I almost started crying in the car, not because there was anything majorly awful in my life, but just from feeling overwhelmed.

I work part-time as a personal trainer, homeschool my two kids, handle the paperwork for our family real estate business, have a fitness column (plus this blog), am a Girl Scout troop leader (we’re going camping this weekend,) am three weeks away from my next bodybuilding competition and still haven’t finished cleaning the dishes or folding the laundry.

That’s when I got the email saying I had to answer a ton of questions if I wanted to get my taxes filed today.

So I mildly started shouting, “AHHHHH!!!” as I drove to the homeschool co-op and apologizing to my kids by explaining, “I think I bit off more than I can chew.”

My son asked what that meant and I explained, “It’s when you think you can handle everything but once you get into it you realize you can’t, like putting a giant gum ball in your mouth, which seems like a really good idea at the time, but then discovering you can’t close your mouth all the way.”

“I think you need a Me Day,” he said.

I think he’s right.  But then I talked through some of my concerns with them.  Like the fact that I’m in change of the Girl Scout camping trip but a) I don’t like camping and b) am not at all convinced I should be in charge of lighting a fire.  Also, it’s supposed to rain this weekend, because God has a sense of humor.

My daughter said, “Well, why don’t you use a match?”

This is why she skipped a grade and why my blog is named ShesLosingIt.com and not ZenMama.

Since the conversation was going well I figured it was a good time to throw out there that anyone, literally A-N-Y-O-N-E, could help clean the dishes or fold laundry, they didn’t have to wait for me to come home from work to tell them.  (They begrudgingly agreed that I made a valid point.)

We got to the co-op and I got an hour and 15 minutes to catch up while my kids were taking science.  So I sent off my blog post to Bowflex, answered the CPA’s tax questions, and started typing this post.  I then promptly got booted off the WiFi (without saving this) and had to write it again, because Murphy’s Law.

So, what have we learned?

1. When you’re feeling overwhelmed scream out loud in your car and ask your kids to fix your life.
2. Take matches to Girl Scout camp.
3. Limit your free time to one hour and 15 minutes and you will be amazed at what you can accomplish.

I think we’ve all also learned that I should not be a therapist and that my blog is aptly named.

How about you?  Do you bite off more than you can chew?  How do you handle it?

Lisa 😉

Lisa Traugott is a personal trainer, Mom’s Choice Award writer, original cast member of FOX/John Cena’s “American Grit” and has a monthly fitness column on Bowflex.com.  She won Ms. Costa Rica Sports Model 2017 and her transformation story was featured in Muscle & Fitness Hers, Good Day Austin, Great Day Houston and Texas Monthly.  She blogs at ShesLosingIt.com and is passionate about her clients.

ShesLosingIt.com (c) 2012-2018 Lisa Traugott. All rights reserved. No portion of this blog, including any text, photographs, video, and artwork, may be reproduced or copied without written permission.