Has anybody ever experience a “Ground Hog Day”? You know those days that seems to never end. It almost feels like you are in a time loop, and you are not sure how to get out. Maybe using the analogy of ground hog day isn’t accurate; what I mean is that just when you think the day is done, something else comes up, then something else, and it goes on and on and you can’t find the end of the day. I know, I know you thinking what can’t get done today it can get done tomorrow, but there are some things that you got to get done or else, or maybe you have procrastinated for so long and a deadline snuck up on you and you are scrambling to get it done – you know.
I have been working from home since March 19 of 2020, and it has been quite a ride. At first, I was ok with it, then the walls started to cave in on me at my home office, and I wanted to get back to the office-office, then of course I was ok again – like a roller coaster. The thing is that my days seem to blend-together and sometimes I am working and I forget to take a break, or have lunch and the next thing you know it is time for me to log off. It doesn’t stop there anymore; I log off from work and I move on to my family life so routinely. I start by helping to close my wife’s business, then I move to either helping with homework or I end up cleaning the house of all the left-over crap that accumulated during the day. You know what I am talking about right, clothing left on chairs, dishes left on the counter or table, slippers and shoes left in the middle of the floor, wrappers on the couch left from the snacks my kids ate during the day, dishes in the sink that somehow accumulated over the morning and afternoon. I mean it is amazing how a busy day can cause so much house work. It doesn’t just stop after I log off from work, but the day continues with a whole lot of house chores. Let me say this, and honestly this is the truth, but all the accumulated stuff everywhere is either my wife’s or my kids. You can look at the kitchen table and everything you see on it is either my wife’s’ or kids and that is just the table. Walk around the house and pick up clothes, dishes, food wrapper, they are all either my wife’s or kids – seriously. I am the one that ends up picking it all up at the end of the day, only for everything to return the next day – it is a never ending cycle. I know some of you are thinking, you should say something, teach your kids some consideration, but I have and do it daily like a broken record, but it never changes. I am sure many of you have experience this as well, I know I am not the only one.
Yes, I am a clean person, but I am not extreme. I believe that if you use something you should put it back where it belongs or, if it is a dish put it in the sink and wash it, if you ate a granola bar throw the wrapper in the trash, if you take off your shoes put them in your room, if you take off your jacket hang it where it belongs, if you drive, place the keys where the keys belong. These little habit saves a lot of extra work later, plus you are not running around the last minute looking for you jacket or keys or whatever you might be looking for. My job might be in front of a computer, and maybe some people think my job is not hard, because I don’t work outside in the heat or cold for 10, 12, or 16 hours a day lifting 100-pound of whatever, but my job is mentally exhausting and I am tired at the end of my day. My days are starting to look like they are repeating and I cannot get out. I wake at 5:30 am to work, do household chores, and repeat. If I took a video each day of what I do, you would think I had it on a loop and that you were watching the same thing every time. This happens even on my days off, but without the going to work part, that part of my days fast forwards and I simply start my household chores, picking up after everyone.
So strange writing this, because if I look back on my life, I try to figure when this all started, was it with my first kid or was it when I first got married, maybe it started when I first had a roommate. I vaguely recall having to pickup the living and kitchen when I had a roommate, but I wonder maybe I am a nurturer or a push-over; who knows. Like I said I think I am stuck in a Ground Hog Day, and I am just waiting for the buzzard to go off for me to start this all over again.
Thanks for reading and I leave you with this thought, “Don’t’ let life become predictable, if you can’t change those around you, you either move on or shake it up once in a while to keep yourself sane.” I will have to see if maybe I will use my own advice or suggestion.