This past week has been manic. I had no idea juggling a Master's with my work and home life would be such chaos. I've juggled things before; I'm a mother of 3 who has done school runs, a full-time job and all the out-of-school activities you could wish for, all on my own with no other parent on hand. I managed to balance my undergrad with three jobs and the kids successfully. But this week has been a whole different level!!
I had already double-booked my Thursday afternoon a few weeks ago and had to email my specialist skills tutor and ask her nicely if we could rearrange our session, I had agreed to cover a shift at work, and it had completely slipped my mind that I had already agreed to meet my tutor and when it comes to juggling my life, I have previously learned that prioritising is key and having 2 kids that still rely on me financially, and a mortgage to pay, I decided that in this instance work had to come first, so I dropped her an email, and she kindly moved all our sessions back by a week. Check diary - three things are now in for that day, it'll be hectic, but it is certainly doable!!
Roll forward to a fortnight ago, and I'm chatting with my placement supervisor about our meeting with the charity we will work with on my research placement. I decided to double-check with him that I have time to travel from the Uni campus to their café as I'd hate to be late; I informed him that I had an hour between my mentoring appointment and the time we the meeting time and I am greeted with a look of confusion as he tells me that he is certain our meeting starts at 10 am, not 11 am! We double-check the email, and it does! My mentor meeting ends at the same time as the meeting begins, and with the best will in the world, I couldn't fly between Newcastle and Gosforth high street in less than a minute. I went back to the drawing board and apologetically asked to arrange with my mentor, who kindly agreed and went on with my day.
And then there were two! A meeting in the morning and a shift at work in the afternoon, with what should be a nice little gap in between that allowed enough time to get home after my meeting, have some lunch and get changed for work, what could possibly go wrong!!
Thursday arrives, and I'm feeling a bit under the weather, but I've only got those two things to do. I don't need to be in Gosforth until 10 am, so I can take my time a bit before I leave, print off those academic papers I had found that could help with the literature review for the research and have myself a cuppa. I'd usually email my boss to double-check my start time, but hey, it's down in my diary; relax, you know when you start.
So my meeting goes well, and we discuss loads of ideas. We will be using a reasonably new approach to the research, which actively involves the community as part of the research team rather than simply passive participants, and I come out feeling quite excited. As I walk towards the metro, I take my phone out of my bag to take it off silent and notice 3 missed calls from my boss and a voicemail, my heart sinks, and I actively quicken my step as I dial "123"...… its a message from my boss wondering if I'll be into work for the 11.30 am wedding as discussed, I check my watch and it's already 11.25 am, I check my diary, and it says I don't start until 1.45 pm...… I feel sick!
I am now running as I ring my boss to apologise, but of course, there is no answer from either her mobile or the office as she will be in the full throws of beginning the wedding, so I leave a message on her voicemail full of apologies and decide to accept my fate. I look at my watch again, slow my step and acknowledge that even my best efforts couldn't enable me to travel 8 miles in 5 minutes so I may as well take my time. I'm still confused, though..... perhaps I have got my shift times mixed up with last week's? So I use the filter on my email to check my old emails from work, and after a bit of searching, I find the one that relates to today. To my relief, it said that my shift started at 1.45 pm, but that doesn't help work, though, and I still feel really quite sick! But after all the juggling I did, at least this time, perhaps I wasn't to blame. I call back and leave a second voicemail to explain the mix-up, apologise again in case it is still on my part, and continue my journey home, reflecting upon what may have gone wrong.
Whilst sitting on the metro, my mobile rings, and it's my boss; I don't want to answer it, but I know that I need to, so I take a deep breath and take the call. I'm greeted with a warm and friendly voice full of apologies. She had thought that she had asked me to come in early as she was short on staff, but she had been so busy she must have forgotten to do so; she couldn't apologise enough and would still really like me to come in for my shift that afternoon. When I finally arrived at work, we had a quick chat before the start of the afternoon wedding. She apologised again, telling me she had meant to call that morning to check if I could come in but hadn't had time. I apologised as I hadn't sent my customary email to check what time she expected me to start, and we agreed that if either of us had done so, whilst I would still have been unable to cover the wedding, a whole lot of stress and panic on both sides could have been avoided.
Last Thursday, I learned that when juggling many things, it is not always possible to manage your workload and time to perfection and that we all make mistakes, even those we assume had it nailed. But that communication is key, whether in apologising if you have found yourself double booked, checking that you have booked things in your diary correctly, or apologising if you have made a mistake. Life can be hectic, but good communication can help.
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