Imbalance & Chunky Chicken Noodle Soup

My life feels so crazy lately. I’ve logged 92.5 hours for my next payroll cheque so I’m desperately trying to balance my work life, my training, my relationship, and my downtime and I’m feel like I’m failing all around.

I’m so tired, both mentally and physically, and my body is trying to fight me into taking a break.

My mom and I had plans to go across the border and do some shopping in Buffalo yesterday, but we both woke up feeling exhausted, had upset stomachs, and dull headaches. After going back to sleep for a couple of hours we just hit up our favourite outdoor outlet mall. It was cool so the fresh air helped for a bit, but by the time I got home I was still feeling pretty lousy. I spent the rest of my evening in bed watching episodes of Happy Endings and Buffy the Vampire Slayer on Netflix.

I woke up feeling better this morning and was excited to get in a run outside. The temperature was mild and the sky was bright blue, but while I was letting my oatmeal and tea digest I started feeling sick again. Clearly I just need to take a break.

I still had to grocery shop and meal prep so I left my house for a little bit. The dash in my car was reading 0 degrees so I rolled my windows down to enjoy the “warm” weather and I was not the only car on the road with my windows down. Welcome to Canada.

Because my mom and I had such a crazy week last week we neglected to eat a lot of our roasted vegetables. Instead of wasting them I turned them into a soup/goulash and it was surprisingly good. It was like a veggie-filled, super chunky, chicken noodle soup.

I warmed a tablespoon of olive oil in a medium sized pot, sautéed half an onion and some minced garlic, and then added seasonings, a 28-oz can of diced tomato, and two cups of broth. I brought that to a boil, added a couple handfuls of dried egg noodles, and once those were cooked I added in the vegetables and some shredded chicken breast.

Now that all of my meal prep is done and a bowl of soup is in my belly I’m going to take the rest of the evening to relax. I honestly have no idea how to balance my life right now, but I do know I need a few hours of me-time to mentally prepare myself in case this is another crazy week.  

How do you balance in times of stress and craziness?