Hardest lesson to learn #HAWMC - Day 17

There have been many lessons learned. I have talked about a couple of them in previous postings. They vary from trusting in myself and the decisions I make, learning to listen to my Mom and Dad (especially when I was younger), and so on. I think now the biggest thing is learning how not to push myself too much. I have spent many years just pushing myself through situations and life.  A few months ago, I was talking with Mom and saying how tired I was. She asked what I did the day before, I said not much. Then I went a little further back, to the weekend and listed off a laundry list of things I did. I did too much and it took a bit to catch up with me. When I look back, it is amazing that I did not burn out sooner. I remember coming back home after a crazy summer where I had gotten a job in my field that had daytime hours, however, it did not pay enough to afford cost of living. So, I continued to work my retail job. There would be days I would work all day, go home to have supper then work another 6 hours and get home shortly after midnight. At least I lived within walking distance of the two jobs. I crashed when I came home to visit at the end of the summer. A few years ago, I was working a job that kept me in this area and I was not making enough money to cover all living expenses plus student loan. So, I picked up another job. It was either I was not working enough to justify the pay cheques or working too much that it negatively impacted my health. I would say, "but I used to work nearly full time hours and go to full-time classes at university". What I realize now is how all of that did impact my health in the short and long term. I try to limit myself to one class per term now, while I am working full-time. I carefully look at my schedule before taking on additional tasks. This can be hard to do because I cannot say how I will be feeling in 15 days from now, but I can try to plan ahead to prepare myself. The phrase "loving-kindness" comes to mind with how scheduling fits into my life now. I must keep myself in mind, first and foremost, when making plans and arranging things. I got a gym membership but haven't been in over a month because of doing work on my house plus various other tasks and just needing recovery days. I do not let that bother me but I realize that may need to be re-evaluated at some point in the future. One day at a time :)