My schedule... and my sacrifices
8:30am Wake Up
Since my kids have graduated high school, I no longer see the point in waking up early, thank you very much. After two decades, I've earned this sleep-in!
9:00am Coffee and Crossword
This is an important little slice of me time. I'd really love to say it's where I center myself and plan for the day ahead, but honestly, it's mostly procrastinating.
10:00am More Procrastination
This usually comes in the form of reading.
11:00am Workout
I do not love exercise. At all. Instead of the boost in seratonin that most people get, I just end up with a serious case of the sads. This is just one of those sacrifices I make because of my illness. Cardio is a great anti-inflammatory, so I rotate between dancing (Fitness Marshall, he's ridiculous and fun), weight lifting, yoga, and boxing with Fitness Boxing on the Switch. Cause I'm fancy like that.
12:00pm Smoothie
So, this is another of those sacrifices, because my smoothies are not what you would find at Booster Juice or Starbucks or whatever. They are neither sweet nor delicious. What they are? Healthy. Fibrous. Sludgy. But they serve a purpose, so I make little yummy sounds and offer my husband a taste. He's a good sport and always accepts. Sucker.
1:00pm Work
The next five hours will be me in my "office" (aka bed), getting shit done. I try to get my minimum word count out of the way quickly, then pray I'll have time for more later. Spoiler alert: I won't. The rest of my time is spent editing for clients. I do love both my day job and my side gig as an author. I am incredibly lucky to have the flexibility and freedom that allows me to focus on my health first and foremost.
6:00pm Dinner
Again, because of my MS, I'm on a pretty focused diet. A lot of people would call it restrictive because I don't eat gluten, dairy, processed sugar, alcohol etc. But I looooove food, and I promise I'm not suffering. What does suck? Not being able to eat those quick, easy cheat meals. I miss pizza pops! Ravioli and mac n cheese! Because of that, I end up making most of my meals from scratch so that I have control over the ingredients. I make a mean chicken curry.
7:00pm Family Time
My kids are older, but thankfully, my 18-year-old hasn't realized how lame his mom is yet. Every evening we both set aside time to hang out. We watch shows (right now, we're on Silo), we play video games (Zelda for the win), and sometimes I can even convince him to read beside me (he's been working on Dungeon Crawler Carl for a while now).
10:00pm Reading Time
This is my downtime. I catch up with hubby, read a library book, then go to bed at midnight.
This schedule does not change on weekends. I do not get days off. My OCD loves the structure, my MS needs the focus on my health. I'm sure it won't always be like this, but for now, it works. I wish I could write more, publish faster, learn how to market better, but my books come together in 20-minute increments. It's amazing to see how it all adds up.
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