Navigating the Tumultuous Waters of a Busy Life

                Recently
I started a new internship, which means my mornings start about an hour and a
half earlier than usual. The other day I spent eight hours at work, went to the gym, had a
rehearsal, then a volleyball game, and finally made it home for midnight only
to have to do it all over again in just six and a half hours. My friends make
fun of me a lot for how busy I keep my schedule, and some of it is warranted, I
suppose. If you run into me in between activities I can be pretty scattered,
walking at a brisk pace, I sometimes forget what activity comes next, and when
I do remember what task comes next, I am often tunnel-visioned until I get to
it.

                So
why bother telling you all of this? Well the explanation is two-fold. For one,
our readers have expressed interest in getting to know us a bit better (though
I would never want my lasting impression to be a crazy chicken with his head
cut off). Secondly, I figured if we want to offer our readers some advice and
empathy on living a busy life and yet still trying to find time for writing, I
might have a tiny bit of experience in that area (*insert sarcastic laugh
here*).

                Like
I said, this month is all about surpassing the challenges that come at us,
channelling them into a learning experience and, finally, using that new
experience to fuel our writing (or at the very least, using our writing to ease
some of the inevitable stress associated with said challenges).

                Before
I dig into the nitty-gritty this month, I wanted to just have a post where I
shared a bit more about my life and what else it is that I do. I write for this
blog and also have my own blog/information site called thevoicenotes.com. That
is where most of my writing comes in. In addition to these, I am in full-time
school for Speech-Language Pathology, and have two other degrees that I did
back-to-back (never taking summers completely off). I love school (a guy like
me had better), and I think the biggest reason for that is the structure it provides.
Furthermore, my work as a professional singer and voice teacher help me to
continue to fill my schedule. I joined a volleyball team at my school this year
having only recently discovered a passion for playing team sports (but not
basketball… I just don’t get it…). My weekday schedule of school,
work, and play takes me from a wake up time of 6:30am to an arrival at home
around 10pm or later most nights. I find I thrive on this kind of schedule
though. I like the idea that all my time is accounted for, because if I’m being
honest, when I don’t have things scheduled I really do find it hard to ignite
the flames of motivation to complete a task. It’s much easier when you’re in
the throng of crazy “busyness” and you can just slot another thing you have to
do in between “this” and “that.”

                I
hope I have satiated a little curiosity, and shown you that I can be a fairly
reliable source for being able to navigate through a busy life. It might be
helpful to hear some challenges you have faced or are facing, and maybe I could
speak directly to those this month rather than just repeating the same old
advice (which I’m more than happy to do if no one is facing any challenges, but
something tells me that’s not the case). In honour of the changing season,
hopefully this month will help you “spring” through your life as a writer
rather than being bogged down by the challenges coming at you.