The past 6 months have been seriously hard. The past 8 weeks have been the hardest of my life. During this time I've felt extremely overwhelmed. Without going into details, here's a brief overview of the last 6 months.
10/1 – Adoption of the twins finalized
10/8 – We decide to homeschool our son since he is extremely behind academically and is exhibiting behavior problems at school (Hubby and I both work full time, but we work from home so we juggle our schedules to make this work).
November – Basketball season begins and we have lots of late nights with away games.
November – We get a call that my father-in-law i s losing his battle with ALS and is not expected to make it through the week. We head down to Tennessee that weekend for a visit. We also head down the next weekend.
Mid-November – My grandmother gets in a car accident (not her fault) that leaves her unable to walk or manage on her own. She ends up in a rehab facility for a month.
December – We head back to Tennessee to visit with my father-in-law.
December 21- 1 year anniversary of getting custody of the twins. We've seen lots of progress, but there are still lots of days where they are missing their old siblings.
January – Crazy snow storms here in Indiana. We have no school for a week. My lupus begins one of its worst flares in the last 15 years. Khrystyna's basketball schedule continues to be crazy. Homeschooling and working continues to be crazy. My father-in-laws health continues to deteriorate.
February – My father-in-law is having trouble breathing. He gasps for breath throughout the day and we know that the end will be soon. My husband and I barely sleep as we expect the call to come during the night.
February 11 – We get the call that my father-in-law has passed away during our daughter Khrystyna's sectional basketball game.
February 13 – We head out of town for the funeral. The grief is overwhelming for all of us, but especially for my husband.
The remainder of February is a blur with the funeral, my husband's grief, our anniversary, and a lot more snow.
The beginning of March saw more snow still and my dad slipped on the ice and blew out some discs in his back. What followed was doctor's visits, MRIs, emergency back surgery, and quite a few trips to the hospital. And my lupus continued to get worse.
After the craziness of the last few months, I was completely fried. And with my lupus as bad as it was, I felt like I was barely surviving. I was completely overwhelmed. I was so busy trying to survive that I cancelled on friends, missed obligations, and failed to keep up with things that needed keeping up (one of them being this blog).
While I'm beginning to feel like the fog is lifting, I know I'm not out of the woods yet. If you're in the same boat I'm in, here are some things you can do to help you get back on track.
1. Make a list of priorities.
Eating, sleeping, caring for your children etc are priorities. Make sure those are getting done.
2. Make a list of obligations.
If you've missed fulfilling these, send a note of apology with an explanation. (This is on my to-do list for today).
If you have upcoming obligations you will miss, send a note of apology with an explanation and if it's something you can do in the future, give them an estimated completion date.
3. Give yourself grace.
There are things that happen in life that you have no control over. Give yourself grace to deal with whatever curve ball life threw at you.
4. Make a schedule.
When you're overwhelmed, the smallest things can be overwhelming. Make a s reasonable schedule of what you need to get done and commit to doing it.
5. Seek help!
There are times where you just need a group of friends to rally around you. It's OK to be needy every once in a while. Let your friends bring you a meal or do your laundry. Let them watch your kiddos for you. And be honest about how hard your life is. People aren't mind readers.
We've all had moments (or months) when life is overwhelming. What are your tips for when life is overwhelming? Leave your tips in the comments!
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