As the school year spins to a close I find myself looking backwards with one eye and forward with another, anxious to assess what has come to past and figure out a plan moving forward. Life is change and assessment. We can only get better by recognizing who and what we have been and trying to become better versions of ourselves and placing that better self in the most advantageous situation. I speak jargonese here, but the key point is that I can only get bette by seeing exactly where I am at, what got me here, and deciding how to best proceed forward.
So, I’m at a place where I want to be a better partner, parent, writer, teacher, and I want to do these things from a place of financial stability. Honestly, I give myself a C grade for all listed save for financials which I mark as a low F. The blog has been a strong indicator of the other grades as of late, but the financials is something more about trying to live far outside of my means and recognizing that it doesn’t work.
Being a better partner is about being available for your loved one and putting them first. That is a tough one for me, because I spent a lot of time putting everyone else’s needs ahead of my own and it hurt me as a writer, teacher, and even a parent. Still, there has to be a way to merge these things Voltron-like as opposed to compartmentalizing and ultimately not applying time to the things that need it when they need it.
Part of these revelations emerge from having more time on my hands. I’m coaching less, which means less mental energy devoted to that pursuit. Now, I recognize that I am more effective when I coach less, but I also recognize how much I enjoy coaching and how much a part of my life that is. So, I’m going to restrict myself to one sport at a time moving forward and no more than two teams close enough in age that I can combine a fair number of the practices in order to limit how much time I spend coaching. If I have my kids three weeknights, I shouldn’t really spend more than two on coaching.
So thats a bit on partnership, parenting, and finance. With these ten minutes behind me, I’ll marinate on the rest.