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Decision Fatigue- That Make So Much Sense!
Food & WineParenthood

Decision Fatigue- That Make So Much Sense!

by Jill
written by Jill

SponsoredBySubway

I got up at 6:30 this morning, even though it’s Scott’s morning to get Kendall to school. I did so willingly because this is the year of grown-up choices.

Oh yeah, I’m still on the January Cliche high.

I made breakfast. Again. Which is like, wow. I don’t even know who I am!

I’ve had a lot of coffee, but I can’t really say it’s working. The kids are all at school, and I want so badly to crawl back into bed for an hour. But this… writing this post… is one of my top 3 to-dos for the day.

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See? It says so in my new planner. (Another top 3 is to clean the kitchen.) So I’m going to get those 3 things done before I reward myself with anything. Really.

||OMG, y’all. I have been looking at this planner all morning. And I just now- at 10:30 am, realized I planned today on yesterday’s page! I am chronically flakey. ||

I read this thing about Decision Fatigue late last year, and it really spoke to me. I am SO that person who shuts down when faced with too many choices. My God, the Cheesecake Factory is torture.

And when I tell my husband, “Seriously, you pick the restaurant. Just. For. Once.” I MEAN IT. On Valentines Days of past, I’ve been known to get super agitated at the fact that I am always the one who does the choosing of the place to eat. On this one day of the year, please show your love to me by not making me make a decision. 

The idea behind decision fatigue, from my understanding, is that even the smallest, repetitive decisions can exhaust you throughout the day. So, they suggest a couple things.

1. Limit your choices.

2. Do important things early in the day, before all the decisions exhaust you.

On the doing things early in the day part- I KNOW that’s what I have to do. It’s a very hard thing for a not-morning person to commit to. But, if I’m honest with myself, I realize that I am not just physically exhausted by 3 pm lately, but I’m mentally drained, too. It’s been a long time since I’ve had a round of productivity after 6 pm.

Is this what getting old is like? Because even 30 year old me could get a solid 3 hours of work in after bedtime, but 33 year old me is not having any of that nonsense.

Anyway, I woke up early this morning in an effort to conserve mental energy later in the day. Jury’s still out on that one.

The easier of the two for me will be the first- limiting choices. 

I’ve always known that clearing clutter from the house makes me feel better. I enjoy nearly monthly purges of our closets and the playroom. We donate A LOT to the local women and children’s shelter. So I’m actually excited to implement this in everything from what I wear to what we eat.

I’m not a fashionista, but I have enjoyed experimenting with clothes more over the last year. I don’t think I’ll go so far as to create a capsule wardrobe, but I’m going to focus on limiting my choices hanging in the closet to ones I truly love and actually wear. Like, at this moment. Not in the future when my waist is smaller.

I think where I feel the most decision fatigue, by far, is when it comes to food choices. I might be feeling this to the max right now because of this Whole 30 thing I’m doing, but I also enjoy the fact that this makes me make decisions ahead of time.

We’re experimenting with foods and getting back to healthy basics, and the whole family seems to mostly be enjoying it.

I’ve tried so many approaches to food in the past, and the more gourmet and complicated, the worse our family responds. I hate all the dirty dishes and time spent making food nobody else appreciates, and the kids are really tired of me trying to get them to eat exotic meals every night.

It’s not that I’m opposed to trying new things! I think I just need to respect all of our limits more.

So at some point before the Whole 30 is over, I’m going to try to write out 30 or so dinner ideas that are crowd pleasers (which I’m sure will include a lot of Whole 30 hits). And that’s going to be what we work from for the year.

We may deviate from time to time, but that base of 30 go-to meals should be enough to create some peace about feeding people in this house.

It’s seriously been so stressful in the past. I find we put off dinner until nearly bedtime because we just… don’t know what to do. It’s like I WANT to prolong the witching hour? Dumb.

We’ll still budget days and money to go out to eat, but I’d also like to focus on keeping those choices simple, too, for days we’re not feeling adventurous.

We love stopping in at Subway for healthy sandwiches and salads, so that’s an easy choice for us anytime. Even for me.

So, tell me, if you were to simplify your life and limit your choices, how would you go about it? Have you done this? I really want to hear from people who this has worked for long-term!

It seems like this is one resolution that should be easy to keep – do LESS, not more in the new year.

Thanks to Subway for sponsoring this post about grown-up choices!

 

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The Story

Surviving and Recharging While Flying Solo

by Jill
written by Jill

Thanks to Crystal Light for sponsoring this post. To learn more about how Crystal Light can flavor your day with 30 refreshing flavors, visit http://www.facebook.com/crystallight.

I picked Scott up from the airport yesterday after a 3 day business trip. It’s something that happens pretty frequently, especially this time of year. Let me tell you, I have a whole lot of respect for parents who do the whole single parenting thing for long stretches. The weeks and half weeks that I’m left to manage a house, two kids, and 3 animals, (who all seem to need my undivided attention at the VERY SAME MOMENT) completely drain me.

Finding time for myself is hard enough when I’m just managing things on my own during the workday. As much as Scott tries to relieve me of all my duties and give me some much needed time to myself when he’s home, it just doesn’t alway happen with so many things going on and growing up around here that really need 2 grownups’ help.

Most weeks he’s home, though, I do manage to get out or decompress in some way, even if that means not coming to bed until 12:30. I’d say the majority of my “me” time happens from 10:30 until midnight.

But when he’s gone? Oh my. It’s next to IMPOSSIBLE. And yet, I know that’s when it’s most important to recharge myself. I’ve learned to cope, to carve out just a smidge of “me” time over the last couple years by doing the following when he’s gone:

1. The house is at the BOTTOM of the priority list. I keep this place livable, one step above gross. Beyond that, all bets are off. If I get around to the laundry, I do. We go out to eat far more when Scott’s gone just so I don’t have to deal with dishes 3 times a day.

2. I take small breaks when I really need them. Sometimes that means turning on a 30 minute show that I know will keep Kendall on the couch just so I can make myself some iced tea, sit down and flip through a magazine. I’ve even gone so far as to load the kids up in the car, drive to the Sonic, get a 1/2 price slush for me and Kendall (happy hour FTW!), and sit in the car and catch up on emails from my phone.

Laundry unfolded, kids in jammies at noon, Disney Junior on the TV... just another day flying solo.

3. My latest sanctuary is the late night bath (I rediscovered their awesomeness while looking for a little buoyant relief while pregnant). The late night part is key. If I attempt to take a bath at anytime while Kendall is awake, he, of course, expects an invitation to join me. I’ve got a stack of magazines, some luxurious bath oils, bubbles and salts, and many times I bring a glass of wine with me. Even if it’s only for 15 minutes at 11:30 at night before I climb into bed, it really helps calm me and get me ready to start all over again the next day when I will wake and…

Leyna stirs, she’s hungry, I put her in bed with me, nurse her and hear Kendall over the monitor waking.

He begins banging on his door, “Momma!! I have to go poopy! I AWAKE!”

I pop Leyna off my boob and dart for his room, hoping I get there in time to get him on the toilet and avoid changing a poopy nighttime diaper (toddler poop is so much worse once you regress back to newborn poop).

Leyna’s screaming in the other room because she wasn’t done eating yet, so I leave Kendall on the toilet, run back to get her.

ALL THE WHILE the freaking dogs are chasing me around the house, back and forth, their noses up my ass, and the cat is weaving in and out of my legs, nearly tripping me, meowing at me for food.

Why does EVERY. LIVING. THING. in this house always need me at the same exact moment?

And so another day begins, and it goes on like this for hours until I decide that I must make a little time for me for fear I might explode from exasperation.

What about you? How do you make time to recharge? What do you like to do? Am I the only one who loses her mind a little bit the first hour everyone is awake in the morning?

Remember, visit http://www.facebook.com/crystallight to learn more about how Crystal Light can flavor your day with 30 refreshing flavors. I was selected and paid for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.

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