This pregnancy, I've struggled a lot more emotionally than when I was pregnant with Ashtyn. With her, I don't remember ever going through emotional ups and downs. There was the time someone honked at me while I was driving and it made me cry, but I don't think I was as tender. This pregnancy has been a whole different story.
One of the side effects of this emotional roller coaster for me has been lack of productivity. I remember one day, I thought about doing the laundry and it made me want to cry. I wake up some days just emotionally worn out and it makes me want to do absolutely nothing.
When we first moved to our apartment, I had these great aspirations. I had a to-do list for each different day and it was loaded with cleaning, business ventures, exercising, organizing, reading and language learning, and making food. I had all these ideas about keeping the apartment clean all the time, the fridge stocked with super healthy food and snacks, keep on tons of stuff for improving myself, all of the things I'm supposed to do because I'm pregnant (which could be an entire post on its own) and still having time for Ashtyn and Ben. At first, I was doing pretty good at finishing my list, but I honestly was just exhausted all the time and I felt like I never finished everything that I wanted to.
I eventually burned myself out and just sort of stopped doing anything at all, because I knew I couldn't do everything. That was the worst time, emotionally, for me.
Now I have a new system and I love it. It acknowledges that I can't do everything, motivates me to get moving when I am feeling lazy, and lets me know that even if I don't get anything else done, at least I did the things that are most important.
I have minimums that I do everyday.
In the morning (preferably before Ashtyn wakes up), I do scripture reading and journal and get dressed. I also like to make the bed, if Ben wakes up before Ashtyn. Of course, there are other things that I like to get done (like clearing out the dishwasher or making bread), but if I don't, that's okay. I get my minimum in. I do scriptures then because otherwise, I won't do it, and I get dressed because being dressed for the day makes it more likely that I'll feel productive.
While Ashtyn is awake, I don't have any minimums. I do things, like make breakfast, but I also get to just hang out with Ashtyn if I want and I love that.
During her nap, I have a minimum ten minute work out that I do (I'll probably change this up after I'm pregnant, but I have a work out routine that works really well for being pregnant right now). I also work on something for business (whether it's writing, planning out my business, or helping Ben with his business stuff) for ten minutes. It's not long, but sometimes I end up working longer on it.
My other minimum is at night. Before going to bed sometime, I load up the dishwasher. Sometimes this ends with me cleaning the entire kitchen or apartment before bed and sometimes I'm so tired, I just load the dishes and leave the rest of the mess for later. Doing this, though, leaves the kitchen cleaner for the morning, making it easier for me to want to do things in the kitchen, and also ensures that we'll have clean dishes the next day.
I really love this system. I've been doing it for about a week and it has worked so well. When I'm having a hard day or am tired, I still feel like I get things done, and I definitely feel more productive because of it. I also think my mood has been better because of it.
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