Forty-Five Minutes

I have forty-five minutes to go until I leave for work. I am tired. There is one more week until the time change, Spring Break, and a week of sleeping. I hope that I will feel less exhausted once break is over, but history tells me that I won't.

Forty minutes to go until I leave for work. I decided not to stress about putting together a job application that is officially due today. I will work on it this weekend. I didn't get the invitation until 3 days ago, so I don't think that things I've written in three days are as put together as things I write with six days worth of contemplation and review. So, I will continue to work on things this weekend. If I don't get considered for the job, that's okay with me because I didn't plan on applying - it was an invited application...

Thirty-eight minutes to go until I leave for work. I am hoping that I will finish my documentation for this week this morning because I have not done much on that task this week. This is the reason that I strive to finish my documentation the next day rather than letting it pile up.

Okay - enough with the time tracking. I did something yesterday that has been pretty helpful lately - a Wednesday review and reset. Of course, I did it on Thursday, but I did it. I have developed a list of questions that I ask myself to help me be a bit more mindful about how I am feeling about work and other situations.

One of the things that I think about each week is what is working in my professional life. Right now, I feel like time blocking is going well in my work existence, so I will be continuing that practice. I have put together daily schedules where I track how I am using my time by every half hour of the day. I waste lots of time, but I also do lots of things, so I think it all evens up. Today is my preparation day, so I have only two hours worth of clinical interaction with students. The other six hours will be spent in jobs around my music therapy room. I have a messy storage room right now, so that will be my task for this morning.

I moved things around in my storage area in early February to accommodate the drum set in the room. I moved storage containers, a card table, and bookshelves. It is time to organize the space and make it functional again. I want to be able to get back into making file folder activities, but I need a place to make those activities. There's my focus for the morning. I will turn on a movie, and then I will be able to work with background sounds.

It is time to get to the preparation time of my morning. I need to take my shower, brush my hair, go get gasoline for my car, and then head to my workplace. Next Friday is the first day of break for my students and a work day for teachers and therapists. I have a hand doctor appointment, so I will probably end up at work about the time everyone else gets to leave, but I can use some work time on my own. After I do my time, I will head out into the Spring Break world. I have some appointments for home review and maintenance during break, but the rest of the time is my own. For now, though, I am going to finish my routine - 12 minutes to go before I head to work...actually, I can take another 30 minutes, if I want to, but my time anxiety takes over and off I go!