2.13.2010

Ideal Day vs. Real Day

First let me state that on a truly ideal day, I'd be on a beach somewhere sipping something fruity and tropical.
But on a more ordinary, realistic ideal day, it goes something like this:

IDEAL DAY:
In the morning, when most of you are getting up, I'm going home. I eat a little breakfast and spend some time with the hubby, maybe even put dinner in the crockpot. Then we go to bed. I get a full, uninterrupted eight hours of sleep. John picks the kids up from school and makes sure all of their homework is done. I wake up and take John to work, drinking a nice cold Diet Dr. Pepper on the way. I put the finishing touches on dinner and serve it to my happy, well-behaved children. After dinner, they clear the table and get ready for bed. I load the dishwasher, feed the pets, do some laundry, clean the floors, get things ready for the next day, take a shower, and then sit down to watch some TV before going to work. At work, the night is steady but not crazy. Only the people I like are working on this ideal day. Work goes well and I get all of my tasks accomplished without any problems. I feel productive. I feel a sense of accomplishment. I am ready to go home and start all over again!

And I love those days. But more often, my days go a little something like this:

REAL DAY:
Stumble out of the hospital, into the car, and nod off while John drives home. Stumble into the house and crash on the couch while John watches The Steve Wilkos Show. John wakes me up and tells me to go to bed. Again. And again. I finally get up and crawl to bed. When he gets home with the kids, the sudden noise wakes me up. Again. And again. I yell. I crawl under the covers and put a pillow over my head, but my sleep is still off and on. Then John comes in and wakes me up to tell me it's time to get up because Andrew/Elayna/Shelbie has a doctor/dentist/ortho appointment. I stumble to the refrigerator to find that someone has drank my last Diet Dr Pepper. I yell. I take John to work. The kids fight in the backseat. I yell. I remember that I didn't take anything out for dinner, so we stop at the grocery store. The kids ask for everything they see. I yell. I throw dinner together, eating some as I go because I realize I haven't eaten all day. I serve the kids their dinner, and they complain about having to eat vegetables. I yell. I put the kids to bed and collapse on the couch. The kids get up 14, 672 times for water, to use the restroom, or to tell me things that they either could've waited until next week to tell me, or should've told me LAST WEEK. I try to take a nap. The phone rings. I lay back down. Then I remember I never fed the animals. I feed them and lay back down. The dogs start barking at their own shadows. I yell. I lay back down. I remember I didn't do the dishes. I don't get up.
I go to work without a nap. It's total chaos on the ICU. Three patients have just arrived and two more are coming. Everyone needs something and they need it STAT and what they need is more important than what anyone else needs. The phone rings off the hook, the patients hit their call buttons all night long. I yell. All the people who I DO NOT like are working this night. I don't get a break. Nothing goes right. I do not feel productive, I feel frazzled. I do not feel a sense of accomplishment, I feel a sense of exhaustion. I am ready to crawl into bed and stay there for a week!


It's a good thing the Ideal Days and Real Days are usually pretty balanced. I think a week of real days would kill me!!


Tell me about your Ideal Days vs. Real Days.

3 comments:

Mama Wheaton said...

Being productive is always an ideal day. Being an employee, mom, husband, student etc., there always seems to be more real days.

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KK said...

Not that mine compare, but ideally I'd love 8 hours of sleep. Somehow I average 4!