Schedule Maintenance

I am learning a lot of schedule maintenance on several fronts. How to schedule my free time, how to schedule Aidan and Zoe's activities, and finally, how to manage my practice.

It has been quite a learning curve about all three in the last few years.

For much of my life, I have been on some kind of track. Initially, I was on the track to become a musician for a living. Gradually, it changed to a track for becoming a physician, and this track too a very, very, long time. After Hubby and I got married, we had many conversations about "What does one do with free time?" Hubby has always been very good about finding things to do, things of interest for him, whereas I am very good at doing what I 'need' to do, and not very good at what I 'want' to do.

I am mindful that I want to help Aidan and Zoe to be good at doing things they are interested in doing, to fill their own time, and to be free to try new things for fun. Therefore, I am trying very hard to not put them on a track of my own ideas. It is hard to do! I would love to raise a Julliard caliber cellist, an Olympic swimmer, and a plastic surgeon (all three would actually be the same child.) Because, the other child is busy being a World Cup soccer player, and a Peabody Conservatory pianist, and a cosmetic dentist. You see the importance for me to hold myself back? Because they may not want to play the cello or the piano. They may want to play the viola and the French horn.

As for my schedule maintenance for the practice, it is tricky, to keep it just full enough for me to manage, that leaves me enough time to do errands, make dinners, attend school activities, be a mother and a wife, and do the aforementioned fun activities for myself. On the other side of this coin is to be sure that I line up all the patients back to back, so that when I am away from the children, I am 'billable.' As I look back, it is clear that divine intervention plays a huge role in this. Somehow, I am in network for a good insurance panel, it is all relative, after all. Even when patients cancel, I am often able to fill a time spot, the record stands at about 15 hours. That is rather incredible, that a perfect stranger calls me at the right time, to fill an hour that someone can't make.

Providence is an amazing gift.