How Do I Multi-Task?

I’ve been taking things pretty slowly since I started my maternity leave. Understandably so, since three months sounds like an awfully long time.

Now that I am left with 15 days, things are starting to look a little different.

Like today, all of a sudden, I got this nervous attack that I am soon going back to my no-day-no-night work life, which leaves me with very little or no time at all after attending to the needs of my kids. It’s not the physical amount  of work that’s daunting, but rather the fact that my whole mind will be preoccupied with loads of matters I have to think and consider, constantly remember and to deal with.

It’s funny I even have this nervous attack. I was actually looking forward to going back to work. I miss the people I work with and the place I work in.

But, I am really savoring this three months’ holiday of literally emptying my whole brain and mind that had been choked up by numerous & countless things-to-do. They never seem to end! The whole experience had been nothing short of one rejuvenating and rebirthing process for my intellect and creativity. Mrs Yonggi Cho said before in our church that rest is very important. It gives us the motivation and much-needed push to carry on this race with zeal and enthusiasm. It’s not like I would breakdown and die without these 3 months, but a time of rest is always appreciated.

And so, now that the reality of the end of my holiday is sinking in, I’ve been trying to accomplish a lot of things everyday. It used to be that I would take my time to slowly bathe Baby Jayne, feed her and stare into her eyes as she dreamily finishes her favorite beverage and do not mind taking hours just to pat her to sleep. Now, I multi-task most of the time. It’s like I have to do double the number of things in half the time to maximize whatever is left of my holidays now.

While bathing her, my bedroom’s TV will be switched on and I’ll be watching entertainment news or some soap dramas (I hate news by the way. I know how bimbo-tic that sounds, but whatever.) While feeding her, I’ll be on msn chit chatting with a friend, typing a blog entry, reading someone else’s blog, and drinking coffee and watching TV at the same time. Cannot imagine? Let me try to paint a simple image for you:

So, Baby Jayne will be propped on the curved part of my left elbow drinking her milk (bottle held by my left hand), while I type frantically on my laptop with my right hand, toggling between many different windows. The coffee is on a stool next to the bed and I grab a quick sip with my right hand as and when. The TV is on full blast right in front of me, and while I don’t necessarily take in every visual, I hear what they’re saying all the time. There. No wasting time at all.

That is why whenever my hubby MSN me asking me what I’m doing, I tell him I am very busy, which is true.