How do you do it all?

[DebbieDowner]

The weekends are too short how do you get it all in. By the time you ride, run, play golf, play with the pets and then try to get your domestic duties in the weekend is more then over? AND I do not have kids, I cannot guess how I would fit kids in.

How do you ladies do it all?

[katluvr]

I don't do it all. I am always behind. House is a mess at times. I am tried.
And I don't have kids either!

[tulip]

I don't have a TV, and I have found that I have so much more free time to do other things, like hobbies, house and garden projects, cooking, and even relaxing.

I spread all those you listed (not golf, though!) throughout the week so there's not a mountain of stuff to do on the weekends. For instance, I do laundry on Mondays and Thursdays so it doesn't take up a whole day. I take longer rides on the weekends, and shorter ones during the week. I have a small house that is easy to keep clean, so that helps. I'm also not a terribly social person so I don't spend alot of time socializing.

But I've learned that life is too short to be a perfectionist. Do what's important and let the rest go. To me, TV is not important. I don't miss it, and the time I've gained is filled with meaningful activities--like learning a language, cooking, enjoying my house, reading, and folding origami cranes!

[DebbieDowner]

Tulip "But I've learned that life is too short to be a perfectionist. Do what's important and let the rest go."

This is the biggest lesson to learn, but being 40 something it is hard to change your ways.....

[Grog]

I don't do it all, easy!

I've picked a few things. I cycle much less these days because I'm taking some Mandarin lessons Saturday afternoons. But I still run, and I commute to work on my bike every time I can.

Can't do it all, no.

I can only imagine how kids will impact our life. (None yet, but it will most likely happen in a not-that-distant future.)

[channlluv]

I've convinced my 11-year-old daughter that training for a triathlon with me is quality time.

The dishes can wait until dark when we can't ride safely.

Roxy

[annielynn]

I don't.

I have two small kids and lately what has been suffereing is my riding. I am very sad by this. This has been an issue that I have been dealing with over the last few weeks. It makes me grumpy.

[tulip]

Tulip "But I've learned that life is too short to be a perfectionist. Do what's important and let the rest go."

This is the biggest lesson to learn, but being 40 something it is hard to change your ways.....

I am 40-something. It's been very worth it to change my ways, and I really do live a fuller life now.

[indysteel]

I've found it much harder to fit everything in since I moved into a new home with my BF. There's just been a lot to do, and I now have a much longer commute to work (and most other things, too). Add in some sick pets, some minor health issues, the holidays, and some not-so-cooperative weather, and I've had a hard time establishing my routine. I'm trying to have some patience with myself though.

Prior to these recent developments, I tended to let a few things slack just a bit, e.g., my house was tidy but not spotless. I paid someone to tend to my small yard. She needed the money, I needed the time. I cooked food that could serve as leftovers. I learned to prioritize what I most wanted to do and then did that stuff in whatever time I had to do it. My BF refers to me as the Tasmanian Devil when I'm straightening up my house or running errands. It all boils down to time management, so I don't dilly dally over much. I get up early in the morning most mornings, which is key in my world. I'm struggling right now with the fact that BF does, and while I get up and putter around the house while he's still sleeping, I haven't taken it farther than that, although I intend to.

I, too, don't have kids and really marvel at how much my friends with kids do on the average day.

[shootingstar]

I don't do it all, easy!

I've picked a few things. I cycle much less these days because I'm taking some Mandarin lessons Saturday afternoons. But I still run, and I commute to work on my bike every time I can.

Can't do it all, no.

I can only imagine how kids will impact our life. (None yet, but it will most likely happen in a not-that-distant future.)

Every adult Canadian-born Chinese, whom I've known and who has tried to learn to speak Mandarin later in life, read and write basic Chinese, truly struggled. And these are folks like me, equipped with an eroded Cantonese /Cantonese dialect.

Enjoy it now.... The English language (written & spoken) can look abit dull, not as poetic in word derivation, once one starts venturing into other linguistic worlds. (I hope no one attacks me here: I did take 3 years of Latin in high school.)

I am cycling more but even now I limit my time on the bike daily. Life isn't just all about cycling.
Bike-commuting even a few times to work really helped over the years. I figured my health was greater priority over a perfectly neat home.

Still our home isn't neat as it used to be a few years ago.

[OakLeaf]

The English language (written & spoken) can look abit dull, not as poetic in word derivation, once one starts venturing into other linguistic worlds. (I hope no one attacks me here: I did take 3 years of Latin in high school.)

Not an attack... but the contributions of Latin to English are late and mostly indirect. To understand the poetic origins of modern English, you need to study Anglo-Saxon. IMVHO, it's mostly the Norman conquest and the consequent bastardization of English with Latinate forms that ruined the language. [Another reason to dislike the French. JOKE! JOKE!]


Anyway, back on topic... I don't do it all, either, and I have way less to do than most people. It's a struggle a lot of the time, but I do what I need to to get through the day.

[7rider]

How do you ladies do it all?

I don't try.

[MomOnBike]

I'm not convinced that "doing it all" is possible. There are only so many hours in a day - and some of them will be spent sleeping.

It is possible here to get a skewed perception of how much people do, however. Person A talks about cooking, Person B talks about raising kids, Person C talks about her garden, Person D talks about bike advocacy, and so on through the alphabet. Everyone talks about riding and bikes.

No one person does everything, but it is all too easy to see all these posts and think that everyone does all of it. Actually, everyone picks, chooses and talks about the activities that appeal, and keeps quiet about the others - or applauds someone else's successes.

[ny biker]

I don't try.

What she said.

And I don't lose sleep over it.

[maillotpois]

By the time you ride, run, play golf, ...
How do you ladies do it all?

I sure as heck don't spend time playing golf....