Breathe….
It’s been over 1 month since my last blog post – so much for writing more consistently. But I now have a chance to come up for air. The hustle and bustle of my day job combined with stress of a one year old has been playing havoc on what passes for my spare time. I’m tired, eating poorly, and I haven’t been able to consistently exercise in months. And my poor camera has been banished to the closet to collect dust on an epic scale. Clearly the current situation is unsustainable and I’m on a collision course for an early grave if I continue things as they are.
Reset time.
Basically this means it’s time to put some hard core parameters on my life. The easy ones are diet and exercise. Meals and working out are now scheduled just like any other high priority meeting that I have. In the past I would workout when I would generate some free time each day. This was much easier to do without a 14 month old. By scheduling my workouts around times where I don’t have to care for Tre (lunch hour, days when Malaika picks him up from daycare) I can be more consistent. And by planning my meals in advance it’s easier to avoid junk food.
Sleep
This is my principle problem – I try to make my schedule up by staying up late. There was a time when I could write code until 3:00 in the morning and turn around and head into work by 10. Those days are long gone. As much as I wish I could still function on 4 hours of sleep it’s just not possible. So now I’m building my daily schedule around getting at least 6 hours of sleep – ideally 7 but I still have a baby to deal with.
Taking time for myself
I realize the importance of scheduling time for myself. Just because I’m a parent doesn’t mean I stop being human. I still have interests and goals and it’s easy to let those go. I understand now that this is the path of parental insanity. I have to defend my interests – while it’s try that Tre is the number one priority it doesn’t mean I can’t schedule a few hours a week to read, take photographs, or just play Left 4 Dead on the xbox.
The combo
The trick to all of this is going to be the combo. There are only so many hours of the day and by insisting on sleep I’m cutting down the supply of usable time. Where I can – I need to combine activities so I can accomplish things more efficiently. Instead of walking the dog we will go for a run, running errands at the mall – take the baby and give Malaika air cover for her activities. Is the baby playing with his toys? – Pull out the laptop/smart phone and prune the ever growing mountain of email.
That’s all I promise to blog more – and since everyone loves photos of the boy here’s a nice shot of the boy wearing an electronic arts t-shirt. Perhaps my EA friends can hire him for the next John Madden Football ad campaign. (Just kidding…well unless you guys are interested)
