How NOT to be Overwhelmed With Spring Chores

This weekend was a test. The weather on Saturday was a beautiful spring day in central Pennsylvania, with temps hitting the high 50's and sunshine. It was a day to be out in the garden starting the spring clean-up and prep for planting and growing season. But alas, my time in the garden this spring will be limited due to my bike training schedule for my 7-day stage race that starts on Memorial day. Not to mention, every Saturday morning (sometimes Friday mornings when I have rides scheduled for the weekend) is now dedicated to helping my elderly mother. Needless to say, Saturday was not the day for my garden to get attention. Luckily, because of a book I partially read this winter, I practiced focusing on the living in the moment philosophy and cleared my head and focused. The Karate Kid movie does the same thing -- no thoughts, focus. This weekend I tested it and it works! Saturday was focusing on helping my mom in the morning and a nice long bike ride in the afternoon. I ignored the patches of green herbs screaming under the dried dead stuff to get this scrappy dried stuff off of us so we can grow. Sunday morning was dedicated to the garden but that was the real test. It normally takes me weeks to clean everything up and start planting and every year on that first day, I near kill myself trying to do everything at once. I'm impatient. This year though, there's no room for impatience. Instead, the work is broken down into little chunks with each one getting a priority. That way, you get done what absolutely has to be done and what doesn't, can wait. In my garden, the can-waits are things that don't put food on my table. The ornamental herbs can wait (yes, the little green monsters screaming at me will force themselves through like they've done in the wild for millions of years) and the perennials and roses can wait. The top priority chunk this weekend was prepping the onion and pea patch. I didn't get any horse manure on the garden last fall, so yesterday morning was manure spreading day. It only took 3 tubs and little digging in. Rick will be rototilling it in deeper when the plants arrive and its time to plant. I caught myself not focusing on the priority yesterday and started to whack away at something that wasn't on my priority list for the day. "Jill...stop it. You need to go for a bike ride and this wasn't on your list for today." The bike ride felt great and it helped me focus on the task at hand. So don't be overwhelmed! Take it a chunk at a time, and take your time. There will always be another day, another week, or even another year.