Can One Person Do It All?

Hi Everyone! The question of the day is:

Can one person do it all?

My friend and IMFL partner in crime wrote a very good blog on this today. Instead of posting comments to her blog, I decided to blog about this as well.

How do we accomplish everything on our to-do list? Is this day and age, we all have many many commitments: A significant other, children, jobs, homes, fitness goals, possibly a desire to give something back to our communities. For me personally, I am a single mom of two daughters. I work a full-time job as a Principal Support Engineer for Oracle USA. I am training for the IMFL and normally from July through January, I am a marathon coach for Central Florida's Team in Training program. This year because I am training for the Ironman, I have taken a season off and will coach the Spring program for TNT which starts the end of January.

On a daily basis, I have to decide what I can accomplish and what I have to let slide. There is never enough time to complete everything and I have learned that you just have to let some things go. In my case, it is cleaning my house. Yes I know, GROSS! However at the end of the day, I cannot quit being a mom, quit my job or stop training if I want to complete the Ironman. There are many nights I am getting up every hour to change laundry and once the clothes are clean they usually sit on the back of the couch until they are worn. Rarely do they make it into the closet or the dresser that they belong in. Do I iron my clothes? Never...LOL

Many nights, one or both of my daughters wakes up crying and I have to calm them down. So sleeping longer than three hours in a stretch is something that I hold dear. I am lucky right now because my daughters are visiting their dad so I don't have to feel guilty about getting a sitter for them so I can train. Or not being able to take them to every birthday party or school outing that they would like for me to attend. I do get to sleep three hours straight unless I am doing laundry, But coming home to an empty house at night quickly reminds me of how much I miss them. And when they get home in a couple of weeks, the guilt of training and having a full-time job will return.

Am I overwhelmed? Yes of course quite frequently I am. Some times I wish I had a significant other who could share the responsibilities with me but then I realize I would feel guilty if I left my spouse for extended training. So at the end of the day it is a half dozen of one and a half dozen of the other.

I think for everyone out there, not just those people training for an endurance event, you have to think of your life as a bunch of options. At the end of the day, are you a good spouse, parent, friend, employee and most importantly do you take care of yourself? If you can say YES, then you have accomplished it all. So what if there are dishes in the sink or the bed is not made. I personally cannot say Yes every time a friend wants me to do something. I frequently don't return phone calls in a timely manner. I have to chose training over sleeping. My days off are for training or races. Sometimes on a Sunday, I disappear, I sleep on and off all day just trying to play catch up. My friends worry about me on days like those. But know I am ok. I just need a break. HOWEVER, I love my family and friends and if anyone of them needs help, I would drop everything all they need to do is ask.

Is my house a mess? YES! Are there dirty dishes in the sink? YES! Are there clothes on my couch? YES! Is my bed made? NO! Do I care? NO!

After work I am off to the YMCA for a 2200 yard swim. Once I am done with that, I will grab a quick bite to eat. When I get home, I might unpack from this weekend. I might not. Who knows. Tomorrow the routine starts again.

To all of my loved ones! I have not disappeared. I am still here. If it takes me a few days to respond don't worry, I am just slammed. If you need anything just ask. I will listen.

Oh and if you know a good cheap house cleaning service, let me know!

XOXOX,
Elizabeth