My husband takes the kids to martial arts.

I make a run to the grocery store. Get back in time to put the groceries away and get dinner ready because the kids will come home and raid the pantry if there is no food prepared.

We have the same eat your food battle at the dinner table. Then there is after dinner clean up.

I should mention that I have a fantastic husband that has taken over the bedtime routine with the kids during the summer so that I can get a head start on work.

This is about the time where every other parent gets to catch up on housework and/or relax. Not this mama. I go to my office only to find that my computer wants to give me a hard time and is also working at sloth speed. I attempt to be patient and check emails in between the frozen screens. I finally give up.

I go downstairs and decide to prep the chicken breasts I bought from the grocery store for the freezer. I like to cut up the chicken into chunks to make defrosting and cooking easier. I despise this task. It is so disgusting! Not going to lie, I contemplated vegetarianism numerous times throughout the process. About an hour later I give work another go.

It is now 9:30pm. I’m chugging along, but it feels like it’s never-ending. It’s 11:30. I’m still not done. I’m starting to feel angry, tired, and frustrated. I stop what I’m doing and begin to write. As I type the words on the screen I try to remind myself how lucky I am but after a day like today and it being as late as it is, it’s hard.

I’m going to go try to finish up with work and come back with my final thoughts.

It’s 12:35 am, and I’m finally logging off of work. The day is done, and I’ve had barely any time to myself. It is hard y’all. I’d love to be able to finish writing and edit this post, work on this site, or read a book. But the bed is calling my name.

It’s the next day, and I could probably write up another crazy post of all the madness we’ve endured today. I’ll just mention, I started the day mopping up an overflowing toilet full of crap. Yup! I had to take a breathe more times than I can count.

This is how most of my summer days have been going, and this is just the day to day routine. I haven’t even touched on all the other stresses that we face in life. Work, worrying if you’re doing enough for your kids, family drama, finances, maintaining a social life, etc. It’s been insane, to say the least, and all I keep trying to tell myself is embrace the chaos. These days are short.

Could I put my kids into a summer program and get my days back to get work done? Totally. Do I really have to work? Probably not. But this is the way I choose to live my life. Do I question my life choices daily? Absolutely! Haha!!

I decided to write this post not only because it’s therapeutic for me but as a reminder that if you are struggling to balance life, you are not alone. Everyone is fighting some kind of battle. Nobody’s life is perfect. There will always be some kind of challenge. Without these challenges, would we ever really grow?