Skip to main content

Less is More


And I'm not talking about the new hit show "Tidying up with Marie Kondo," although I DO love to purge items and be minimalist as possible. I'm talking about juggling life. Having a career, being a foster mom, with a chronic illness like cystic fibrosis can make it feel like I'm juggling 10 items at a time. I think I'm finally getting an idea of what I need to do!





I sleep 9:00 pm-6:30 am (yes, full 9.5 hours) and I need them. I do nebulizer treatments, pills, and clean medical equipment for 4 hours a day. Between getting the kiddo(s) off/on bus at 8am and noon, making meals, cleaning, errands. It doesn't leave a lot of time for: career, family, volunteering, and other aspects like appointments (both medical and fostering). I'm not complaining. I'm SUPER lucky to have a family and career. Plus, I'm fairly healthy and stable despite my cystic fibrosis.





I have been doing awesome at managing all my meds. SUPER THANKFUL for that! Especially considering I added 2 weeks of Home IV antibiotics on top of my normal 7-10 nebulizer treatments a day (those IVs ended a couple days ago and follow up is March 3rd- stay tuned...). I know my medications have to be a priority. Not only for me, but for me be the healthiest possible for my family.










I try to plan ahead and work smarter, not harder (I think that's from Dave Ramsey) - I listen to his podcast quite often. I just have to get creative sometimes... like recently I did my treatments during my 30 minutes lunch in a 7 hour long real estate seminar. I try to mulit-task as much as I can. I do puzzles with our kiddo(s) or do online real estate work during my treatment times at home too.










Sometimes I need a personal time-out.





Just time to stop and enjoy a mug of decaf black licorice flavor hot tea (No?? maybe coffee in your case ;-P). I want to enjoy every minute. As a foster parent we never know when our time with the children in our home will come to an end. I want to make the most of every minute and soak it all up <3





I have been using my google calendar in my phone more religiously. And trying to not spend time on "how to plan my time effectively," because next thing I know my planner will look beautiful, but I have no time left to be actually PRODUCTIVE. ( Note: I do use a planner for breaking down big campaigns, projects, deadlines, etc. But I minimize time spent writing in the planner. )M





More doing and less planning.





I think only am I starting to learn what it means to spend my time more wisely and soak up every precious moment. My personal time-outs help. I can see a difference in my days, enjoying more and worrying less. Not surviving, but actually living.





What are some ways you manage time effectively? Do you have a personal time-out or quiet time to refocus? I'd love to hear about them? How do you deal with daily life struggles?


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Today's BIG Appointment

 I discussed last week about my recent struggles & goals. I have been dealing with a lot all at once! Family planning (update on that in 2 weeks), my Grandma's funeral, lower lung function. Through it all I have remained very compliant with my meds! My health is VERY important to me. So this last weekend I took my vest machine, wabi sterilizer system , and packs of ensure to my parent's for the weekend. I wanted to make sure I did everything. While it was a sad occasion, it was still pleasant seeing almost all of the family together again. Actually 27 out of 29 of the cousins made it to the funeral. Grandpa is in the middle of the picture (can you find me?) LOL   On top of my medications I have been doing some dancing & walking, but no jogging or anything. I'm still counting calories on my fitbit (hitting over 3000) a day (& 40 grams of protein, 50 grams of fat at least). I knew I was feeling a bit better than before, but wasn't sure what to expec...
18 comments
Read more

How Fostering and CF impact my work

I haven't been on my blog much.... I think that is because most of my blogging is currently been done on Health Union's Cystic-Fibrosis.com (here is link to all my posts on their site: https://cystic-fibrosis.com/members/cherizkunkel/ ). I decided last fall to step away from real estate after 3 years in the business. It was tough to say good-bye, especially since I had tripled my volume and business in the last year. However, I didn't have time to add any new clients; I kept saying, maybe next week, next month I can fit more work into my schedule. The truth is fostering takes a lot of time. We have between 5-8 monthly visits at the agency, 1 court ate a month, 2 home visits from the caseworker a month, plus e have 2-3 doctors/specialist appointments for our current kiddo. We have lots of paperwork we fill out, gas mile logs, receipts to add, and more! Our kiddo also participates in gymnastics and dance two nights a week. We go to a fosterparent support group with our kid ...
2 comments
Read more

Video Blog: Life in the hospital (as a child)

The daily life in the hospital! Most people cringe at the idea of a hospital. However, when I was little I never minded going into the hospital. I usually would have at least one other friend with Cystic Fibrosis to hang out with there (before we knew about the "CF Bugs"). I didn't love being sick, but I loved my CF friends that I would hang out with. Also the hospital, nurses, and my parent's tried to make it a "normal" environment. I got up and put on cute clothes, "walked to school", flirted with a couple CF boys, did homework, came "home" (back to my room), my friends would ask my parent if I could go play with them. We'd hang out in the play room or go on a walk with one of my parents! My dad loved taking me on walks and I LOVED going on our walks! Here is a video blog of the route we took and bit of information on what is was like growing up (for a chunks at a time) in the hospital! (it is posted via youtube, let is dow...
3 comments
Read more