The first two weeks of my internship have come and gone.

Some things I have realized: first, being up and busy all day five days a week is rough! I come home exhausted; second, changes in my schedule to include grocery shopping and meal prep are needed; and third, I feel too old to be just beginning a career.

I was a stay-at-home-mom for twenty-five years and my schedule was very flexible and if I wanted a nap, I usually got one. That did change a bit when I put the younger kids in school. The school frowns on tardies and they expect you to pick them up on time, lol. Even so, I still had a great deal of freedom to my days. When I started at university it was another adjustment. I had to be in classes and then do homework. I quickly learned some important lessons about time management and my need for organization (my assignment spreadsheet has been a life-saver!). Now, I have added a full-time internship to my schedule and am in another adjustment period.

Things I have done to make it easier: ordering groceries for pick up instead of going shopping. It is so nice to sit at home and decide what I want from the store without having to be overwhelmed by the noise and people. Then, I just drive to pickup my things, they bring my order to the van and load it for me. I am very thankful for that service.

: doing my journal assignments each night makes it less stressful. It is easier to remember what I did that day rather than trying to recall the whole week. I also make notes on my phone during the day about what I did and that helps with recall when I sit to do the assignment.

I am definitely feeling my age (50) the last two weeks. My body is tired at the end of the day and my home has suffered from some neglect. I struggle with feeling so behind in life when all my classmates are younger than me and my work colleagues my age have been at it for a couple decades at least. It doesn’t usually bother me, but sometimes…