Overtime, fog, and balance

I have been working twelve hour shifts for the past three days and have not possessed a lot of time to pour into writing, so please forgive me if all you readers out there wanted to smack me around with a nerf bat for not posting sooner.

Today on the way back from work, there was quite a lot of fog on the highway.  I was reminded that the past few days, I had been operating in something of a mental fog.  The long hours, combined with the type of work that I do and the fact that I did not really have a decent way to wind down after work before needing to go to bed, took a toll on my mind.  I am able to take stock of myself and my surroundings more accurately.  Stock of self: not running on a regular basis (MUST be corrected), drinking far too much alcohol (gotta cut back), and not able to tend to my personal budget and Christian disciplines of Bible reading and prayer.  Stock of my surroundings: the local school districts are looking for substitute teachers (I'm qualified), one of my friends is going through a time of searching and job-seeking, the church where I am a member and regular attender is beginning a transition, my apartment has a lot of cleaning and tidying-up which must be done, the car needs to be cleaned...the list goes on, as you might guess.

I will not deliver a mind-blowingly deep philosophical treatise; indeed, such things are far beyond my capacity, much less my interest and patience.  But here is a bit of truth: God gave us twenty-four hours in every day.  How we spend those hours indicates whether or not we have balance in our lives.  When we commit to one thing for too much time in a day, we begin operating in a mental haze.

I experienced this sort of thing when I was doing student teaching.  Oh, I was fine during the time I spent in the classroom actually teaching and working with the students.  Once school was dismissed for the day, my brain began operating at 10,000 RPMs, constantly trying to remind me of all the things that I had to do.  I found that I was multi-tasking many different chores and trying to write out lesson plans and worksheets and find a chance to grab some down-time to relax and, and, and...not getting anywhere fast.  I have since learned that balance (and a more disciplined approach to time management) are necessary no matter what the occupation is.

Perhaps this is why I do not mind overtime, but I do mind when work becomes all that I do in any given day.  After all, when else can I read my bible, practice guitar chords and riffs, or write on this blog, eh?