Today’s post answers a reader question. You can read previous answers to readers’ questions here.
There were many questions submitted in last year’s reader survey around the topic of my struggles like the following:
- Do you struggle with anything?
- What do you struggle with most?
- What do you struggle with?
While I am organised and productive in general I certainly do have my struggles. I don’t deliberately not write about them, but the aim of the blog has always been to be a resource for parents, focusing on plans, processes and strategies to help organise the chaos of family life, so posts have always tended to focus on possible solutions to common family problems.
My struggles change regularly but below I have listed a few of my key struggles at the moment.
Cleaning
I have to be super disciplined about cleaning. I don’t love it and honestly I would rather be running or cooking than cleaning. My house is never perfectly clean. There will aways be a room that needs dusting and currently my shower could do with a deep clean.
The reality is that the house not being perfectly clean is a trade off I have made so I can do other things. I have a base minimum that I like to keep the house to and I force myself to work through those items across the fortnight. I would love a cleaner!
Gardening and keeping plants alive
We have a veggie patch of which I was the instigator, because I really wanted to grow some of the food we eat. After about three months, I really lost quite a lot of interest. I love the concept of gardening but deep down I am just not that into it to commit to it.
We have a few things still growing in the veggie patch, but that is due to the attention Phil has been giving to them not me.
I also struggle to keep indoor plants alive. Not sure why this is, I love looking at them, but I tend to forget to water them regularly. I am currently working on researching indoor plants this month as part of my dedication to learn something new, so I haven’t given up on getting better at this.
Wanting things done my way
I constantly have to struggle to not comment or interfere once I have delegated a task to Phil to get it done the way I want. Lucky for me, Phil is used to this and pushes back pretty much every single time I attempt it. You think I might learn to just let go wouldn’t you! I do sometimes, but then for some reason other times, I just can’t help myself.
It is not a great habit to have. Phil is a capable adult and even if it isn’t done the way I would have done it, it is generally done well and I need to work on letting things go.
Seeing my friends and extended family as much as I would like
Early mornings are necessary for me to fit my exercise in. Early mornings mean early nights, so I really don’t do much during the week nights when I can help it. This does limit the time available to see extended family and friends and there are certainly times when I just don’t see them enough.
I have become better and pairing tasks, so doing things while catching up – this means I do it more often. It might be walking with a friend, making kombucha with friends or shopping with family which has helped. My book club is also an attempt to see some friends I don’t see often enough as well. This is an area I have to constantly check in on to see how I am going.
Wanting to do too many things
Each year I create a single goal to help limit my underlying desire to do ALL of the things! This really has helped significantly. You can read more about how it helped me here.
But I still have a tendency to want to do too many things. For example I am currently training for a marathon. I go to a fantastic running group twice a week and do two hard track sessions as well as four other running sessions in the week. I have pulled back CrossFit to three sessions a week and mainly focusing on doing strength work while the class is doing the workout of the day.
I do however feel incredibly torn by this as I know I am losing some of my CrossFit fitness and all the running tends to go hand in hand with some strength loss. This has happened before when I have switched my focus to running over strength, but I do struggle at times to keep myself focused on my current aim for marathon training.