My name is Brooke and lately, 9 times out of 10, I’m running a little late. From those who are always early, I’ve been told, allow yourself more time, you have to break that habit etc. But, let me tell you…I’ve tried. My mom is always late, so sometimes I say I inherited it from her, it’s ingrained in me, but that’s not really true. Because, we are often late for different reasons.

So, I’m always late; here’s why:

I am not a procrastinator. I don’t put things off and am a doer of tasks. This is both a curse and a blessing. A blessing because I get things done. A curse because this is the biggest reason I am often late. I am always looking for any sliver of time to accomplish something else, to multi-task one more thing or challenge myself. As I’m getting the boys ready for school, I can’t bear to leave that sink full of dishes, how fast can I do them?

When I was just a single gal, thriving off of accomplishing my next task, this wasn’t a problem. If it was just me, I would have those dishes done, floor swept, project done and be in my car on the way to wherever I needed to go in perfect time. most of the time. But, in the last five years of my life, I’ve been thrown a curveball. Kids.

I may be fully ready to go and just as I’m walking out of the door, the small one poops his pants. Like seriously, every. single. time. It doesn’t matter if I changed his diaper right before we leave, I think he saves it for when I’m putting his coat on and I’m saying, “let’s go!” He’s like ok mom, I’m going…

If it’s not the poop pants, it’s the melt down from my five year old over taking his entire toy collection with him to school. No, your teacher does not want you to bring a mountain of distractions with you today! Or my favorite, when one of them suddenly forgets how to walk and you have to juggle a frantic child and a handful of whatever else you needed to bring with you.

But, plenty of other people with children have no problem getting to places on time, so I can’t blame my children. It’s simple, if I want to kick my habit of being late, I have to change my habit of trying to squeeze in one more thing. It’s hard because it goes against my whole persona, but lately, I’ve been trying more and more to just let things go and it’s working.

So, if you come by my house I may have a sink full of dishes or there may be a few text messages left unanswered, but I’m on time now, more often than not.

– Brooke