• Three Choices I made this week: 

• One: I finally signed Nathaniel up for swimming again, woohoo!!
• Two: I came up with a really simple accountability system for the kids. More coming on this later this month.
• Three: I chose to help David with his work.
• I read/learned: I finished Deep Work, which was very interesting, Twelve Steps for a Compassionate Life which was wonderfully thought provoking, and Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty which I thought was going to be bad but was actually a surprise. I am still savoring Paradise in Plain Sight and now listening to Finding Your Own North Star. I read a short story called Opabinia by Neal Shusterman for the Lit Circle I am leading and I think I am going to start reading Nutshell next but I am not sure. No new classes this week, though Nathaniel and I did a bit of his programming class.
• I celebrate:  I celebrate making it through this week. The last two weeks have been taxing and I am trying to find a new normal. In the meantime making it through feels good. And a weekend without obligations is even better.
• I am grateful for:  I was talking to someone about my life recently and they mentioned how I didn’t have work-life balance but more like work-life integration. As soon as she said it, I immediately knew it to be true. My life and work are just intertwined. Working at home and having unusual hours (like Zurich and Sydney) and kids still at school (getting out in the middle of the work day) creates this intertwined life. And I love mine. I love that I can go to my son’s school in the middle of the day, that I can have meetings at night when they are sleeping, that I can help them with homework in the middle of work day, etc. I understand this might not work for everyone and I respect all choices but it’s a true gift for me and I deeply believe it’s what makes me good at my work and good as a mom (and wife!) because I feel very autonomous and because I am super-responsible the autonomy ends up being a huge gift. I am so incredibly grateful for this that I can barely explain it to others.
• I focused on my health by: 
• Sadly I am still not doing the 7minutes. I plan to start this though because there’s really no reason not to do it.
• Walked 10K+ daily
• Ran 1 mile every day.
• My food is still not well though I have a bit of a plan now.
• I’ve also decided this morning that I will take the weekends off running and the 10K. If I get the 10K in great but I will not put so much pressure on myself on the weekends. At the moment life is very full and busy and I think having these down days really feel like I can have them as rest days is really important. So I am going to give myself some grace while hoping that it doesn’t destroy the discipline of the other days.
• I made art:  I’ve been thinking about OLW and my dailies for November but I’ve done nothing.
• I let go of: I let go of doing anything this week that wasn’t on my calendar. Many of my todos fell by the wayside. I will catch up.
• Core Desire Check-in:
• Kind: I’ve been kind to David this week. Giving him grace when he needed, sitting with him when he wanted and helping with his work.
• Strong: I am aching all over at the moment. I think I need to rest.
• True: I was true to my need to sleep. When my meetings ended and todo list was overflowing, I still chose sleep.
• Generous: I’ve been generous with my social time this week. I am learning that two is my limit and I need to stick to that number.
• Brave: I was brave with signing up for Lit Club in David’s school (but for the younger kids). I am scared but excited.

Here’s to another good week! 🙂

Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.

• Three Choices I made this week:
• One: I chose to journal a little bit in the beginning of the week. I would like to do more.
• Two: I chose to spend 3 hours at a local coffeeshop on Thursday, listening to Classical music and working hard. It was very effective for getting through my todo list.
• Three: I chose to go to David’s school both to drop him off and pick him up and anchored the trips with social or school-related events. I’ve been driving there a lot.
• I read/learned: I finally finished The Sympathizer, and also read Blue Nights. I am still slowly savoring Paradise in Plain Sight and now listening to Deep Work. I finished the Learning how to Learn class which was fantastic. Nathaniel and I finished the Intro to Algebra class and have started Intro to Programming. David and I also wrote some code this week.
• I celebrate:  I celebrate having David back. He went camping on Thursday with his Advisory from school and came back on Friday. I missed him a lot and am so very happy to have him back at home.
• I am grateful for:  my health. I take this granted a lot but at this moment I am grateful to be healthy and that my kids are healthy.
• I focused on my health by: 
• I somehow stopped doing the 7-minute exercise and never picked it back up 🙁
• Walked 10K+ daily
• Ran 1 mile every day.
• The food was better but still needs a lot of work.
• I did focus on the kids’ food a lot still though, so I feel good about that.
• I made art:  hmm no new art this week either, though I’d like to start thinking about November and 2017.
• I let go of: I let go of getting things done early this week, my week was so packed and stressful that I just had to let it go until I had more time on Thursday.
• Core Desire Check-in:
• Kind: I’ve been kind to my sister’s kids this week. Helping with essays the best I can.
• Strong: The running felt tough early this week but I seem to be ok now.
• True: I was true to my priorities and spent a lot of time on the kids’ schools and learning.
• Generous: I’ve been generous with my time at work this week.
• Brave: I was brave with multiple social events this week. They are still really hard for me.

Here’s to another good week! 🙂

Weekly Reflection is a year-long project for 2016. You can read more about my projects for 2016 here.