So you’ve got two jobs, a regular volunteer gig, and you’re taking a few classes so that you don’t have to do this into eternity. The trick to juggling all of these things while making sure the dog gets walked and maybe once in a while you get to go out is to surround yourself with the things you need for support. Everyone needs a little something different, below are some ideas if you are feeling a little unsure.

Calendars

You probably don’t really know what day of the week it is, but if you want to know what you have to do this particular Monday (because everyday is its own Monday) write it down. Get one of those big desk calendars, a day planner, a white board, and the thing on your phone that dings when you have an appointment. Write everything down in all of these places. All of the things in all of the places. You will start to see overlaps. When you start seeing overlaps you need to start looking for excuses, I suggest throwing up, not actually throwing up, but telling people that you were/are sick to your stomach.

Two Alarm Clocks

Once you go to sleep it will be super hard to wake up. You already use your phone alarms but more often than not you turn all five of those reminders off. If you set up two additional alarm clocks you are more likely to wake your neighbors up. Once your blasted neighbors are up there is no way you’ll be able to sleep. Who the hell puts their heels on first thing in the morning? And, seriously, there are two of them in 700 square feet, how loud do they need to yell at each other to be heard?

A Cheerleader

You need someone to tell you that you are going to make it through this. Sometimes you will Kim-Kardashian-cry and people, including your mother, will tell you that you need to give up or quit crying, your cheerleader will come by after your done with your pity party and tell you you’re smart enough. Your cheerleader is the self-esteem you seemed to loose the second you became exhausted. You will heap tons of personal shit on this poor human so you need to make sure they like you enough to stick around, finding a new cheerleader not an easy task. You don’t have time to make new friends, let alone someone who is okay with your whining about not having time to do anything other than whine.

Flexible Co-workers

When you work jobs that require your physical presence you will need people who can bend to your inability to bow. When you work with people who can only work four hours a day every other Tuesday and are sick on every third working day you know you can count on them. When you are overwhelmed these are the people who will have your back. They’ve been there. They have useless degrees too. And don’t worry, on the days when you work together, they will go above and beyond to make sure that they carry their portion of the load. Let your co-workers be your crutch.

I’m sure there are other coping mechanisms, you are welcome to share them because there are only seven days in a week to get everything done, if you’re going to work all of them you might as well do it, because tomorrow is Monday.