Stop the insanity!

I'm moving ever closer to the solution to my chronic problem of mediocrity that stems from my adeptness of biting off more than I can chew. Today I was able to work through a situation that in the past would have likely led me down a path I didn't want to go down.


I have been working doing a little bit of teaching a the University of MN and one of the students in my class asked me if he could something called IPPE, which I'm not going to explain because I myself am not 100% sure I could explain fully. Anyway this would involve me getting registered with the board of pharmacy as a preceptor and with the college to have him come and work at my pharmacy for a couple weeks next spring. Sounds simple enough...

Little did I know that I would soon feel like my two boys who are deep in a snow cave - wondering if it's going to collapse on top of me. It turns out that the amount of work I would have to do would have taken probably about 8 hours if I wanted to do it right. Eight hours of time I really don't have when I have my boys. Then it wouldn't be just him, I would be an official site for many students from now until I die. Students every month, students calling, students asking questions, students saying stupid things to my customers, students thinking they are smarter than me, you get the picture. There also is no pay for any of this work. On top of that it would have to be done by Tuesday - yes that's right 3 days from now. Between now and then I have to work 12 hours, take care of two boys, try to be a good husband, package popcorn, prepare a lecture I've never given before and write 20 test questions for a final that is one week from tomorrow and find sometime to sleep during this time.

So I thought about all of this and I remembered what I had written not that long ago and the light came on. Why was I doing this to myself, why on earth do I need more things to do, I had just written this huge rambling blog on how busy I am and how I want to cut things out of my life. Shortly after this happened my phone rang - it was the student who asked me to do this for him. I didn't want to talk to him right at that moment. Turns out he was calling with bee hive related questions. I finished thinking about all this and called him back after a few hours and told him that I was sorry, but I just didn't have the time or energy to do what I needed to do to get everything done. The professor in charge of the program is not someone I am really fond of either so I wrote her an email and told her the same.

After doing all this I felt relieved, but I also felt like I was standing on top of a mountain. That I had begun to conquer my problem of always having more to do than I have time for. I don't know if this will be the last time I start something I will never be able to keep up with, but I feel like I accomplished something that I am at least moving in the right direction.


(All the above pictures were taken last year - there isn't that much snow here yet in MN!)