As the School Year Approaches...

September is coming at us full force...next week it is September.  That means school starts and the schedule starts getting real.

It has been a while since I have blogged...really the past two years have been a complete blur.  I WAY over-committed myself with Tommy's school, church and community volunteerism and pretty much could not keep my head above water from September of 2013 to mid-July 2015.  As of mid-July, I have stopped all my leadership roles in volunteering and have decided to focus this school year on our family and on me - what really makes me happy.  For a while there, I was too busy to even think about if I was happy and then I was so over-stressed, I realized I was not happy at all...in fact I was downright miserable.  So now begins the work.

I am going to clean out my house...this is my goal for September.  I am writing it down so I can somewhat be held accountable for this goal (not that I think that people who ready my blog will actually track this), but if I write it down and throw it out there, I will make it happen.  I need to purge the excess in our house and then with the salvageable items either have a huge garage sale or take many trips to Goodwill.  I did already start this process and clean about a 5ft x 5 ft space in our bonus room called my "wrapping paper closet."  This ended up with a large black trash bag filled with garbage and then a stack of stuff that is either garage sale or Goodwill bound. So I have started.

I am also going to try to be a better friend and family member.  I am going to try to schedule coffees and lunches with friends.  I just need to reconnect to people because while I was always really busy over the past two years, I was lonely because I was too busy to stay connected with friends.  I also need to really live in the moment with my family - not be looking at what meeting I need to get to or what project I need to get done.  I need to appreciate being where we are at and savor the times where we are just together...hanging out.

Getting back to working out...for a while my world revolved around getting my workout in.  That has severely dropped off and I am really looking forward to getting that back.  Working out is my stress relief and makes me a very happy person.  But I also know it is going to hurt...I am nowhere near where I was two years ago, which not only makes me sad, but also a bit discouraged.  But I need to get back on that horse and start to ride that road again.

Volunteering in both Tommy and Morgan's classroom is a must-do this school year!  I love being in their elementary school...I never realized how much I like it until I was spending most days there over the past two years.  It is a great place to be and Tommy's (and now Morgan's) school is a really wonderful place.  I love the staff at Charles F. Tigard Elementary School and I love helping in any way that I can.  So I am looking forward to volunteering in both of my kiddo's classrooms this year.

On top of all that, I am going to do a little self-discovery and figure out what I really like to do.  I am thinking about taking guitar lessons (I know crazy talk, but I have always wanted to do it) ...now that the kids are both in school for the whole day, I am excited to explore new things.

So while I might have a severe identity crisis as the reality of both kids being in school full-time sets in, I am also going to celebrate uncertainty in my identity because I feel that in times when I question what my identity is is when I am able to really find out about my true self.  And then hopefully I will be able to figure out what path I would like to take with my life.  I guess I am always thinking about that age old question, "what do I want to be when I grow up?"

Cheers to a new school year, a year of self-discovery and a year of making the most out of each day!