Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Time Management

We have been living in our new place for a week now. I love it. But I'm also beyond exhausted. I'm not used to the amount of driving I'm now doing every day. Here's what my days have looked like the past week:

Wake up at 5:30am (except for the day my alarm didn't go off and I woke up a little after 6)
Get dressed, brush teeth, wash face, hair/makeup
Eat breakfast (usually cereal)
Chris has been making my lunch for me :)
Out the door and on my way to work by 6:30am at the latest
Drive about an hour and fifteen minutes to work (depending on what kind of construction they're doing--it seems to change daily)
Work 8am to 5pm
On Mondays and Wednesdays I have an hour break between work and class. Yesterday I used that time to do homework. Then I have class at 6pm to anywhere between 8 and 9pm.
Then I drive an hour and fifteen-ish minutes home.
Eat dinner and go to bed.
Days I don't have class I get home around 6:30pm. Figure out what to make for dinner, do homework, anything else that needs to be done.
Go to bed.

I've been getting to bed around 11ish. Which gives me about 6 and a half hours of sleep. I'm sure my body will adjust to this eventually, but getting between 7 and 9 hours of sleep for the past few months (I went to bed pretty early sometimes) I'm just not used to this.

And, if you hadn't noticed from that rundown of my day, I sit almost ALL DAY. I hate it. My legs have literally been sore from sitting so much. As I've mentioned before, I'm working on getting myself a standing desk so I won't be sitting the entire day. Work is the only place I can stand. I'm stuck sitting in my car at least 2 and a half hours a day, and I have to sit through at least 2 hours of class twice a week. I sit for the majority of my day. Who knew sitting could be so painful?

I'm also severely lacking in the exercise department. I don't know my way around town or anything yet, and because of that, I have yet to go for a run. And by the time I get home at night (especially after class) I'm beyond exhausted and have no energy to workout. The thought of getting up any earlier than 5:30 just to get in a workout makes me cringe.

I'm usually pretty good at managing my time, but a daily 3 hour commute makes it difficult. I came across a post about time by Jessica Lawlor  and there was also a link to another article she had written about ways to make your commute more bearable and productive. One of the suggestions was listening to audiobooks. I have considered this option for my literature class. We have about 5 novels left to read this semester and it would definitely be a better way to spend those 3 hours in my car rather than constantly changing the radio station. My only concern is how well I'll retain the information since we're quizzed on these books weekly. I think I'm going to try it with our next book and see how it goes.  If I can make that work, it will free up at least a little more time in my evenings after work that I could use to get a workout in.

How do you all manage your time to fit in exercise, work, homework (if you have it), household chores, etc.? Any tips or advice?

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