Living la Vida Low Carb? I'm Eating Frozen Pizza at 9 PM

Hi friends, it's almost 9 p.m., I'm dead tired, and I'm holding a slice of frozen pizza that one of my sons tossed in the oven while I was picking up the other one from his part-time job waiting tables. No “living la vida low carb” here. I'm playing more of a game of Menopoly (and that's it for the wordplay, sorry!).

No living la vida low carb here

Yesterday morning I drove to a job where I was teaching a course on dealing with grief. After 45 minutes in the car, with traffic, I got to the room right at 8 a.m. and found out that my session didn't start until noon. When I told my Instagram followers about it, a sweet reader wrote back right away: Hey, Lisa, that's probably menopause. Try creatine, it helps with concentration.

Isn't it great how supportive women can be with each other? If only we all helped each other out with tips like that. The one catch: this time it really had nothing to do with my hormones. It was just a miscommunication about the schedule. So I drove back home and then headed out again to be there at noon.

I am so ready for a vacation!

It happens! But it's happening right now partly because I'm just so ready for a vacation. And do you know what that has to do with? Not only, but ALSO with my midlife time. I'm sure you remember my piece about my crisis of meaning pretty well, plus the update, and how things went for me after that.

And now the meadow I planted is in full bloom. Sometimes so much so that I can hardly stop juggling. Because yes, I want to live again! I don't want to miss too much!

Everything I want

I want to make the most of my new freedom now that my kids are getting older. I want to make time for my volunteer work and time for pure fun, but I also want to keep trying new things, keep up with my friendships, and not neglect my horse, either.

Of course I still want to cook halfway healthy meals for the two kids who still live at home and be there for them when they need me. I'd also like to stay at a decent fitness level, because I was diagnosed with osteopenia (a precursor to osteoporosis)…

…and I'd also like to catch a little culture and news here and there, read a book once in a while, write pieces for you, be there for my clients, move my new Teen Time book forward (and yes, maybe a next one or the one after that), and develop new formats for Stadt Land Mama with Katharina. And at the same time, I want to give my boys a big fat party for their 18th birthdays before they, too, eventually move out.

First half of life meets second half

So right now I'm building a lot for the second half of my life while the first half is still going 😉 The two overlap, and sometimes they clash. And sure, I'm the type who likes a lot of action, but there are days now when I think: Ow, back. Ow, tired. Ow, bed. I just need some quiet for a minute.

And when there are deadlines or obligations lurking everywhere, it can get intense. That's why I'm looking forward, like, extremely, to our fall break, when we'll be traveling with some really good friends and I will allow absolutely zero work or obligations. I can do that. All or nothing.

On flow phases and rest phases

And it's always funny: in flow phases like right now, when there's a lot going on, I get a zillion ideas about what else would be great and what I should try, while in rest phases even the walk to the coffee cup can feel like too much 😉 Anyone else?

Is that a midlife thing, or just a personality thing? Do you ever make way too many plans in a burst of enthusiasm, and then when the time comes, think: Good grief, who hijacked your brain when you planned all this?! How do you find a healthy balance? Do you write rest time into your calendar just like appointments?