I am a person who believes in doing things according to plan, before I go to bed at night, I draw up my activities for the day carefully mapping out when I should be done with each of them and with every extra minute spent on each one, it translates to extra minutes of staying awake. This act has helped me over the years to keep up with all my activities and get things done consistently.
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During my undergraduate days, I was selling shoes and bags, in addition to going to school. So, I w0ould plan my day based on my time table for lectures. I was multitasking because I would carry my goods along with me to class and try to advertise to my colleagues before the lecturer arrives and of course, advertise after lectures as well.
After lectures, I would go round hostels to advertise my wares before going to my room to rest. If there is a church service in the evening then I attend one and if not, I relax and then to the library to read. My life was basically in that pattern during my undergraduate days, nothing much and nothing fun too.
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After school, I continued to have my life after a similar pattern as well, nothing more than business and setting patterns to carry out my activities for the day and I follow it up judiciously.
However, things changed when I got pregnant and I would feel weak almost all the time, it was so difficult at the time because I would write down the list of activities I would carry out the following day, only for me to wake up feeling extremely weak and unable to move my body or even need to report to the hospital because I feel some type of way.
All through my pregnancy period, I got sad sometimes because I was unable to meet up with so many things, and to me, most of my days were basically inactive. My husband tried to encourage me by saying, the baby I was carrying was one tedious job on its own so I didn't need to feel bad for not making money at the moment or being able to contribute to family needs.
The month before the delivery of my Son, I spoke with my friend who has a good paying job online to be prepared to put me through, I thought once I gave birth, I will be back on my feet and be able to keep being my usual hard working self.
After the baby came, I continued to feel weak and tired, I was encouraged with words like, oh you will feel better after the naming ceremony which is customarily seven days after delivery. But, even after the naming ceremony I continued to bleed, I was still weak and unable to sit well. As a matter of fact, on the naming ceremony day, I couldn't sit well.
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Days turned into weeks and weeks into a month and the bleeding did not seize, although at the time, it was reduced and was just like normal period so I went to the hospital and I was told there was nothing to worry about, as it would seize on its own and since the bleeding was not excessive, it was a normal thing.
The same way I was bleeding was the same way I kept on experiencing pain from the stitches I had, which even started getting itchy due to the healing procedure. The entire discomfort followed with the need to tend to my little one made it even more difficult to plan anything or do any work at all.
In order to maintain my sanity, I stopped thinking about anything related to work or even plan anything. I would just wake up, tend to my Son and relax. I watched videos on the need for a woman to relax after birth, so I took the advice and I relaxed so well and a lot too. My Mum was around to help out as well and this made things much more easier.
As my Son started to grow, the need to start making money arose again. I am not used to sleeping and waking up all day, my life has never been like that, so now living the life of having to sleep, wake up, watch television was really getting to me so I picked up my laptop to work.
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Right now, keeping up with this standard I have lived with almost all my life has become extremely difficult, and this is because tending to the needs of my newborn is almost a full time job on its own. Coupled with the fact that, I need to take care of the home as well, it has really been a lot and it has become almost impossible to keep up with any form of routine.
Infact, setting a plan like I would formally do has stopped because I started getting frustrated at not being able to meet up with the tasks. So, what I do, is to take each day as it comes but bearing in mind that I need to at least carry out a progressive activity each day.
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My baby is very clingy and likes attention (I think all babies do), one thing I learned recently and I am learning to do more, is using my phone to work. That has helped greatly, as I can lie down beside him while I am using my phone to do the things I need to do.
There are still a few things I cannot do with my phone yet and would require my laptop, I simply postpone those ones until he sleeps off.
It's been a journey indeed, and multitasking as much as possible has become an order of the day. And I must add that I am learning to rest too, I cannot afford to break down at a time like tish, so when my baby sleeps and I feel tired, I sleep as well postponing every other thing I have to do as my mental health, physical health, and sanity comes first.
Hi, I am Tobi, a writer, speaker, relationship blogger, and lover of good music. I love making friends and learning from people. If you want to hear me speak on relationships and general life issues, you can find my YouTube channel where you can watch any episode for free, please do not forget to subscribe, friends. I sincerely appreciate every love I get from here, Kindly do well to keep them coming.