i’ve been on a time crunch marathon for going on a month

Something about this past month felt like it was on warp speed. Like I could hardly catch my breath. I’m currently juggling two freelance gigs on top of my business and sometimes everything really is due on the same week. Staying on top of things has felt like I was in that scene in Titanic where Jack was holding onto the edge of the wooden door. It's felt like my head was truly just above water. After a week of this feeling I kept telling myself “at least next week will be lighter”

Enter: The things I forgot to put on my calendar that all happened to be the same week. So I held onto hope the following week would be smoother. But that week ended up being the week I played catch-up from the week before. And from playing catch-up I was then behind on the things I needed to do that week.

See how the cycle keeps going?

This used to be my every week, every month and every year — for years. It’s just now clicking how the pattern of telling myself “just one more email, one more hour, one more day” keeps adding up until it can’t anymore. Well, it could, but eventually my body tells me it’s time to rest either through getting sick or feeling so tired I can hardly form a thought. This used to to be my norm, working to the point of exhaustion because I just kept pushing myself to keep doing more.

I recently saw a post on Instagram that traces the 12 stages of burnout and the first step is “feeling like you have something to prove.” The feelings of “I’m fine, I’m strong, I’m unfazed because I’m always calm” were all things I felt I had to uphold. I was trying to prove that I could handle a lot without losing my cool, that even after a long night of work, I could still muster the energy to go out for a drink. I took pride in being the go-to person at work and in my personal life that I had neglected to prioritize myself. So what was I trying to prove by always being available?

It came down to wanting to be a reliable friend, a “good” employee and an all around dependable person. All of these things come from a well-intentioned place of genuine love and care. And at the same time by not being honest about the ways that I can realistically show up, I was trying to make space for everything but not able to be fully present with anything. And I don’t love that for anyone involved.

Though I try my best to avoid these stretches of weeks where my energy feels pulled in so many directions, they still happen. Instead of pushing through hoping that a break would come –– here are few ways I learned to take the driver’s seat:

Visualize your time

Blocking my time out a calendar helps me see how much time I actually have available. When I was at the height of my burnout, my biggest mistake was saying yes to plans before I scheduled time for doing homework when I was in grad school or for working on my business or my freelance work. I had to recognize that those things aren’t going to happen unless I make time for them. And if I don’t make time for them, I’ll end up feeling scattered all over again.

Take time to be your own personal assistant. Look at your day or week and prioritize what is a “must do” and what’s a “can wait.” One of my biggest realizations was that no mattered how well-intentioned my to-do list is, it generally has too much on it.

When blocking your time I recommend assigning different calendars to different groups of tasks (if you’re organizing your schedule digitally). For example, in my Apple calendar I have my Late Breakfast calendar as one calendar, my social plans on another calendar and my freelance work on another calendar, and so on. This helps my calendar not to feel overwhelming when I look at it so I can toggle different calendars on/off.

Schedule time for rest

When you’re blocking your time, make sure to block off time for rest. This means, carving out intentional time on your calendar where you’re not working, not catching up on things, just resting. I like to mark this on my calendar well ahead of time so that I know that time is there no matter how I schedule the rest of the week. Give yourself more time than you think you need. If you think you need an hour, give yourself 3-4 hours. It can take time to drop into relaxing especially after being in a state of stress.

Take a lot of breaks

This is the hardest for me to remember. When I’m feeling crunched for time my instinct is to put my head down and power through. Turns out powering through only ends up in being more exhausted in the end. I’m someone who can lose my focus if I stop in the middle of a task. So when I finish a task or get to what feels like a good stopping point, I take that as an opportunity to take a break. It can be as simple as standing up and stretching, refilling my water or sitting in the sun for a few minutes.

Sometimes everything really does seem to happen in the same week. Instead of letting the regret of saying ‘yes’ take the lead, try weaving these strategies into the fuller times. It’s all about learning to prioritize your wellbeing and having the tools to navigate the times you feel energetically or emotionally stretched.

Have you tried any of these methods? I’d love to hear how they worked for you!