Hi friends,

As you may know by now, my sis and I are very close. We are each others best friend! We speak on the phone almost every day and see each other often. She is probably the person that knows me the best, plus she’s known me her entire life, ha! You may relate, if you have a sister or girlfriend you are close to.

My sister gives me great advice and I have learned lots from her over the years. It is nice to see that my litter sister has grown to be such an amazing woman and good mom. In some ways, we are very different and in other ways we are very similar. We vent with each other, often! We are also honest with each other. We are supportive of each other, but don’t always tell the other what she may want to hear. We all need this type of person in our lives!

Recently we were talking about how our lives have changed since we got married and her life even more since she had children. We both feel very blessed with our families! She told me something she has learned to do is ask herself “what can I get done today?” And do just that – and that is already a very full day since she works full-time as a teacher, has two children, a husband, and runs her household. All moms out there can probably relate. She told me over the years, particularly after she had her second son, she has learned that somethings will just not get done on weekdays. For example, she will wait until the weekend to wash laundry. Before, she’d wash laundry on weeknights, no issue, but now, she prefers to spend time with her boys in the evenings. She has an evening routine to make dinner, help her son with homework, bathe them, clean the kitchen, and prepare for the next day (lunches, clothes, son’s backpack, etc). And, she still finds time to spend time with her husband and pack his lunch for the next day. Amazing, right?

Over the years, I have learned to say no and not take on too much, because then I end up exhausted! Particularly now that I am married, I look forward to coming home every evening to spend time with my hubby. I have also taken on less weeknight and weekend outings or speaking engagements, because I need some “me time” and like to spend weekends at home, and with my hubby.

The words my sister said have stuck in my head the last few days and I can relate. Just last week, I had very long days at work because we were covering the fires and organized a phone bank with the Red Cross to help the fire victims. I was working 12 – 16 hours a day and getting home very late. When I arrived at home, I barely had energy to talk to my hubby, but did manage to ask him about his day. So, something had to give, and what gave was exercise and my blog. I wasn’t able to exercise last week or write a blog post for a few days. I was exhausted every night and ready to go to sleep as soon as I arrived home. The good thing is I knew it was temporary due to the urgency the fires caused. I felt so bad for all the families that lost their homes or businesses, and people that had to be evacuated from their homes. My eyes got watery a few times just seeing the coverage of the terrible fires and homes being lost to the flames. So much was happening so fast! How was it possible for so many fires to start in one day? Terrible! I was glad I was able to provide information to viewers through the work we do, and I was able to help raise funds for the Red Cross. That made the long hours worth it.

We all have responsibilities and lots of demands on our time, but are there things that we added to our day that could have waited or just simply were really not that urgent?

So, next time you are feeling overwhelmed or tired, ask yourself, “realistically, what can I accomplish and get done today….and not end up exhausted?” And, do just that. The laundry can wait 🙂

Are you close to your sister or a girlfriend? What is the best advice they have given you?

Hugs,
Paola