Overload Management by Jenn McKinlay

JENN McKINLAY: If you follow me on the socials, you know I just got back from two weeks at the family cottage in Nova Scotia. This was a remarkable trip for many reasons, but the biggest was that it was the first vacation I’ve been on in YEARS where I wasn’t working while vacationing. Not gonna lie. It was glorious! 

I ate ice cream, walked the beach, chatted with our resident seals, visited the neighboring baby goats, sheep, and cows, went thrifting, attended art shows, ate out, did crafts, read books, watched the Olympics “Go, Canada!”. Now that I’m back, of course it’s “Go, USA!” And spent time with the Hooligans and my mom, all of whom can turn Yahtzee into a blood sport, but I digress. 

Naturally, to maintain balance, life has a way of making you land with a thump upon returning from time away. I received news while on vacation that I can’t share yet but is pretty frigging great so we’ll put a pin in that. And I came home to all of those pesky life details. The battery in my truck was dead, one of my outlets wasn’t working (it’s the one for the coffee pot so CRITICAL!), also there were tuition bills to pay, and a massive decluttering project to finish and I realized in my post vacation haze that I didn’t want to do any of it because my to do list felt too long and I was on overload. 

This happens to me every now and then. I get lost in the ever growing to do list, causing an inability to get certain things done. Why?! Then when I finally do the thing I’ve been putting off for WEEKS, it takes ten minutes. Again, why do I do that?

In the case of my return home, AAA came out with a hilarious driver/mechanic named Jeremy (think of a character from an Evanovich novel) and the battery was replaced in minutes while I took notes for a future character because Jeremy was...OMG, too perfect!

How about you, Reds, do you have certain things that you put off and then they’re no big deal? How do you motivate yourself to get the minutia done?

HALLIE EPHRON: Wait a minute… you have a TRUCK???

Jenn, you are a constant source of amazement.

I write lists. And keep my list on the kitchen counter and write tasks into my (paper) datebook. And then sometimes I get confused and think because I wrote it down, I did it. 

JENN: Yes, I do drive a truck. LOL. A 2007 Chevy Silverado.

I bought it in 2017 in anticipation of the Hooligans moving and it has come in quite handy over the constant residential shifts of the past five years. Oy.

LUCY BURDETTE: The vacation sounds perfect. Then life has a way of paying you back for being away, right? I’m totally overloaded right now. A thousand blogs to write to launch A POISONOUS PALATE, book 15 to finish, a big triple birthday party to host next weekend with various family staying for a long weekend–it’s all good but can feel like way too much. I have a paper list with empty squares next to each item. When I finish something, I can check it off. If I fall behind, it gets a star (oops, lots of stars right now!) I also put things in my e-calendar so I can pay attention day by day. Most important, try to enjoy moments right in front of me. The other stuff will get done, or it won’t. But I won’t get these precious days back.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: I am so overloaded that I missed a whole week of keeping track of anything in my planner, and that makes me crazy! I have to list the things I have to do and prioritize them for every day, then either move them to the next day or check them off. Watching the Olympics after dinner this week has been a great way to just shut all the pressures out. And we discovered we love Speed Climbing. We didn’t even know there was such a thing!

Speed Climbing! How did I miss this? This would definitely make the to do list seem less daunting. LOL. 

RHYS BOWEN;  overloaded is a good word to describe my life at the moment. I was on the faculty at Book Passage mystery conference and the moment that ended I swung into high gear for my book launch next week.  By Thursday morning I had done five hours of Zooming with groups this week . My cheeks hurt from smiling too much. I also had paperwork from my retirement accounts to fill out and express back. Trains and planes to book for the Europe trip,  and did I mention that my knee that was operated on suddenly started a burning pain necessitating a visit to ortho and a cortisone shot . 

My son came home from a trip to the San Juan islands showing me photos of tranquil bays, plates of oysters and canoeing. Grrrr. Why am I not doing that?  And I put off entering expenses in my spreadsheet until the last minute!

Kayaking! YES!!! A much better way to ease overload!

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN: For a while I juggle, checking things off my careful daily lists and dated lists and deadline lists and checking three calendars and doing events almost every day and editing book 15 and (trying to think of 16, yikes, I got nothin’) being so proud of myself being able to do it ALL, and  and then there comes a day when I say, out loud, THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE!

(Oh, and Rhys, I sent in my February booktour expenses. LAST WEEK.  And I was still proud of myself.) 

But….I just tell myself–the only thing worse than an impossibly overfilled schedule is an empty one. And then I’m fine, I just do the next thing and the next thing and the next thing.

Although the funniest moment was the day a few months ago when I thought–hey!  Wait! I did it! Everything on my list is done! 

And then I realized I had not written one word of my book. Oh. That. Never mind.

How do I unwind? Huh. I am not good at that. (And I have news, too, more to come on that. No, it’s not as big as whatever you're thinking, but it’s very nice.)

JENN: Looking forward to hearing all about it, Hank!

Okay, Readers, what do you do when you are on overload? And how do you convince yourself to just GET IT DONE?