Just 3 Hours...

Sometimes, all it takes to regain your sanity is just 3 hours. How simple; yet, how challenging to find.

I get really frantic this time of year with work. Once school starts, I have to assist with orientation, plan a college fair, schedule my high school visits, and get ready to hit the road in two weeks. What happens is that, right about this time of year, I fall behind on my scheduling. So far behind, that I often can't even get a hotel room or visits I need to schedule. And I freak out for weeks straight.

Last week, I was scheduling my high school visits to make this week. I'm normally not a procrastinator like this, but here is my largest issue: I work from 7:00 am until 3:00 pm--during normal school hours, right? Well, counselors also work 7:00 am until 3:00 pm. This means I never have time (except on Fridays) to call and schedule everything. Anyway, back to scheduling the visits for this week. Out of the nine schools I called, only three got back to me in time for me to schedule things out. So the rest? I'm not going to visit this year. I need to recognize where those lines need to be drawn.

Anyway, I was bummed with this visit-less schedule because it left me a huge block of time after my one college fair today. I'm in the beautiful Black Hills, so I could certainly go be a tourist for the afternoon hours. Instead, I sat down in my hotel room with multiple cups of tea and made my calls. And scheduled visits. And planned things out. It was beautiful.

After only three hours of doing "office work", I feel 10x better. No, not everything is in order. But I feel like I mashed a whole week's worth of work into these three hours.

When I'm in the office, I tend to overwork myself. But I have recognized that the trick is to leave at 2:00 and go home, drink cocoa, and relax. When returning to work the next day, I am way more productive. It takes a simple three hours to regain my sanity. I need to remember that when I'm on the road, too. And, I need remind you all.

Have a wonderful Wednesday! And relax for three consecutive hours this week--it'll help save your sanity, too :)