I have ~42 minutes 37 minutes (my colleague came by to discuss our office holiday party!) until my first afternoon patient. Options:
- post
- walk
- get ahead on afternoon notes
- scroll Reddit
- something else
We will see how long this post takes because mayyyybe I can cram in a little mini 15 minute sunshine walk in addition to hitting ‘publish’ here!
My point: we are always choosing. This was the theme in Laura’s Juliette’s School of Possibilities, and it’s true. The challenge is to choose well — with care and intention — and avoid falling prey to defaults (like “scroll Reddit” above, which I am not going to do because I know it would make me very sad in the aftermath to have used my break time that way).
Kae’s recent workout posts underscore this: she wants to spend quite a bit of time training, but also wants to be able to enjoy some later nights with her husband and teen boys, and does not want to shortchange sleep. (These are all very very reasonable things to want, in my opinion! And I agree with everyone that she’s doing a great job with fitness already).
I read her post and reflected on the comments and it helped me realize that while I keep contemplating ‘more serious strength training’ (ie, in a gym, longer sessions with more rest), I don’t think I am going to do it right now.
My current fitness regimen is:
- 3-4 strength workouts per week (ideally 4: 2 upper, 2 lower following the HCOTF calendar though I might go back to the RK split at some point). Each are 30-40 min and at home, which is important bc it means zero transition time. Generally on weekdays, I walk straight off of that mat and wake the kids up for breakfast.
- Yoga sporadically (Peloton). I would love to do this weekly, but haven’t really been lately.
- 1-2 Pilates classes per week (ideally 2 because that’s what I’m paying for with my membership! Generally I can do two unless I have a call week. I am not interested in going while on call.) I tend to go Monday and Thursday mornings (6a or 6:30a classes) because these are the days Josh drives the kids to school.
- Walks most days, 20-40 min.
Obviously this is a far cry from my running days. It’s also the upper limit of what fits comfortably into my lifestyle with everything else.
Things that would be nice to fit or used to fit, but don’t:
- commenting on more blogs (I’m sorry!)
- cooking on weeknights. Right now I outsource this entirely. I know I am super lucky to be able to do this. I DO actually kind of miss it! I do usually cook on Sunday.
- watching TV. Sometimes I do watch but lately . . . not much, I’ve been choosing books instead. Exception: C, G, and I have been watching occasional episodes of Abbott Elementary and The Simpsons. I enjoy both!
- movies. Also sounds fun! But doesn’t generally happen unless it’s with the kids, so that limits the options. (We are all excited for Wicked #2, though!)
- celeb gossip. It occurred to me that I don’t know who the famous people are anymore, really. Ahh well.
- 80% of the podcasts I download. I still subscribe to a ton of feeds so I can decide which topics are interesting to listen to, so I still broadly listen to a lot of podcasts – just not the same podcasts every week. When I stopped running 50+ mpw, I lost a lot of my listening time . . .
- decluttering and decorating. WELL you all know I have mixed feelings about these things!
I could do a whole other section on the number of excursions/fun trips I wish I could cram into 2026 but don’t really fit with limited PTO, but . . my 15 minute sunshine walk is calling.
7 Comments
Not making week night meals is such a gift of time back in your schedule (which I know comes with a financial cost of course!). For some that means no meal planning or grocery shopping as well so that opens up even more time! But it’s good to highlight what you opt out of. I think we can forget that we all make different outsourcing choices, like hiring a house cleaner, a yard service, or a house manager type. There is no right or wrong answer but if Kae, for example, compares her workouts to someone who DOES outsource, then it’s not an apples to apples comparison. For us, we don’t outsource much but my husband does all of the cleaning since he won’t spend the money to outsource it. So it’s still off my plate.
My workout plan/goal is to do 2 orange theory fitness classes/week (once my RA is back to being well-managed… it’s currently not so my class attendance is spotty which is fine since I’m using a class pack currently). Most classes include strength and cardio so are a good all around workout. Then I’d like to do 1-2 additional strength training sessions using the Caroline Girvan Iron series (first I need to finish Fuel, I have maybe 3 left in that series!). Hopefully by January I can implement this plan (really, really hope my RA is in a better place by then…).
I am always SO AMAZED by how much TV people can watch. I watch one show at a time, and it takes MONTHS to finish it.
My read from your DITL posts this year tells me that you already make choices about your time that usually work for you in the end, Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger. This includes your workout schedules. I can also look back at today’s blog post whenever I’m at the edge of making a choice that I’m going to later on identify as a waste of my time.
I do not watch Tv – or almost never. I’m often able to work my workouts into my babysitting time- taking babies for a walk in the quad stroller or lifting weights during naps. I’ve increased how much time I spend working out bc my meds make me gain weight. Ugh. We feast on leftovers a lot, and I know that doesn’t work for everyone. Leftovers go farther right now with so many kids moved out/in college. Fortunately my people do not complain about repeat meals.
Yes, I loved Kae’s posts on this subject. This all makes me think of the quote, “You can have it all, but not all at the same time.” It seems like something always has to give, and we all make our choices and do the best we can. When I read blogs I’m astonished by how much people do, especially you guys with lots of young kids! Like I told Kae- kids grow up, and there will be a phase of life with less family time and more time for our own endeavors.
I love the quote from Laura’s book!
As I said elsehwere, I am thoroughly impressed HOW MUCH you fit into your day. And yes, it’s all about choice and being intentional. Sometimes we have to prioritize some things over others.
I’m always amazed at how people with much busier lives AND kids do it all. I feel like I can barely keep my head above water and I’m single, no kids, and my job is fairly flexible/low stress. I don’t even watch all that much TV! But I still find myself constantly behind on my blogging queue and not getting to the things I want to do. I could find more time if I got off my phone, but I also appreciate the dissociation that comes with scrolling IG or playing games. UGH. Something I need to think about more as I approach 2026 goals.