In the Eye of the Hurricane, I Can Learn Something

This week, in my life, is crazy!  In my "job that pays the bills" it is a very busy time.  It is the week before fall classes begin and everyone and everything is a flurry of activity.  At times, all of this activity comes together, swirls and swarms, like we are in the midst of a violent storm.  It is very easy to get overwhelmed when this happens!  But this year, unlike those previous, I have been able to take learn something...

• Take the time, when you can grab it, to breathe
• I'm in the middle of a multi-tasking nightmare.  I take work calls before I take my daughter to school.  I check email before my drive to work.  I make follow-up calls on the drive rather than wait until arriving at the office to reply.  I leave one meeting to go to another and then return to the first.  I...can't...get...a...second.  But wait, I can.  I can STOP the building avalanche of anxiety and activity.  I can take 2 minutes, I can take 5 minutes, and I can close my eyes and breathe.  Initially, this time seems selfish, causing more anxiety.  But if I stop, and take this time, it doesn't derail the train, but it does keep it from gaining steam.
• Figure out what you can do, and do it
• There are some things, that I can do easily and quickly.  I do them.  There are other things that I can create a plan and begin to follow through on the actions that I need to take to accomplish the plan.  I may not be able to finish every step because of time and other obligation constraints but if I am moving forward, I am doing something.  Something positive!
• Don't beat yourself up over what you can't possibly do
• For me, this is new.  In fact, all of this is new.  My previous pre-semester habits were to build myself into a frenzy, along with the activities around me.  To acknowledge everything I was doing, I'd talk about it, or think about it...over and over.  In turn, this would create anxiety and build stress as I beat myself up more and more over all the things that I "should be doing" and couldn't.  ...so this year, I'm letting it go.  I'm doing what I can, taking some time, and reassuring myself that I'm doing my best.  I'm loving myself through it.
• Find options
• So, what about all those things that I can't get to?  What do I do?  One thing, I'm learning to delegate, and delegate without guilt.  Giving the task to someone else and giving up the feeling that I need to control how they do it.  I'm getting more off my plate, and it feels good.  Its funny, the plate still fills quickly, but I'm dealing with it better.  I'm also recognizing that I can't make everyone satisfied at the level they might like, but that isn't about me.  And finally, for the things that I know that won't fit into this week, I'm putting them off until I can give them my attention.  Through these things, I'm creating emotional time to breathe. 
• Enjoy the time, because it is finite and will change
• I know that this time is traditionally my busiest time of the year.  There is a lot about this time of year that I absolutely love.  There is excitement about a new year, a new beginning.  And I know that this time, this excitement, this business, will not last.  It will move into other times, it always does.  And so I'm enjoying what I can and know that it is finite and just as a hurricane does, it will move on.  I just have to make sure that I've prepared and don't let the storm leave destruction as it passes...instead, I am trying to enjoy the beauty of the storm, while it is here.

Even in the midst of the hurricane, if we can be still (like in the eye), we can take something away and enjoy the journey.