Let's talk about capacity.
It's going to be a short one this week.
All humans have a limited capacity.
Even me.
I suppose I've always had limits, but before motherhood I always had the bandwidth (read: time and supports) to recover after overextending myself.
What I’m learning is that my autistic brain finds the daily reality of parenting to be overstimulating and exhausting. So I have much less ability to “push through” than I used to. And forcing myself to try can have some very real consequences.
So I’m considering all the plates I have spinning and which ones I need to set down.
I already know I'm at max capacity.
So I can't start new things (like the fall semester of teaching university) without putting some plates down.
I actually meant spinning plates on sticks, which I learned to do in uni, but juggling plates and dropping them is also the right vibe. 😂
Something I can’t change is that we’ve lost our sitter. This may sound like small potatoes, but we have very specific needs for childcare. Finding a replacement will take some time.
One thing I can change is how often I post to Substack.
Moving forward I'll be posting fortnightly instead of weekly… at least for now.
(That’s every other week if you’re not a Jane Austen nerd.) 😘
Ok, that’s it for this week. But I want to hear from you.
Let's discuss.
Are you at capacity too? Do you have space to grow? Or need to cut some things loose?
Cheers,
P.S. I’m quite aware one of those spinning plates is my anthology. If you want to submit please send everything by August 15 so I don’t have to track you down!
Also I’m sorry I cannot review anyone’s material in advance. If you are interested you need to complete the submission form.
Submit below:
You are a writer even when you need sleep more than morning pages. 😴
When I was a new mum I knew that I needed art. But I didn’t quite understand why. (Not like I do now.) It’s incredibly hard to make art as a new parent because of all the time and energy that goes into keeping a tiny human alive. But I expected this. So I had a plan.
💯 hear you and relate to this. The school holidays are a lot when you're used to have some time to call your own and create. My post this week is in a similar vein.
Hi Sarah, I am glad to here that you are listening to what you need and spinning/juggling less plates!
I would be really interested in joining The Neuro Nest.
Thank you for another great article. 🖤