I’ve been working 14 hour days, seven days a week, since January. I need more down time, more coffee dates with Steve, but I’ll only get that by making tough decisions. I have to put all my efforts on one project, rather than trying to run all the ponies at the same time.

I’ve had the usual stuff for the family — at least I’m getting paid for that work now by the state. My family is doing wonderfully at the moment, but I’m still driving Ian around, making big dinners, and cleaning up. Our hot water heater and dishwasher both broke this month. Ian’s birthday was memorialized by four birthday parties.

I’ve been doing tons of volunteer stuff for the community and showing up to all sorts of functions, just in case I decide to run for office again. This spring, I organized a Friday night bowling league for autistic kids, organized a parent support group at the Y, ran a local Facebook page with 850 members, set up a panel discussion about community colleges, attended Sensory Friendly restaurant nights, attended talks by the Health Department, and more. It’s all super fun, but very time consuming.

I’m starting a new business. I am still figuring out new technology, pumping out publicity , and networking with others. One of the reasons that I started doing this business is because I was already doing it. I’m getting phone calls from parents and teachers asking for help with life after high school. Those phone calls haven’t stopped. I have to start telling people about the new service charges. That’s hard for me.

Writing will always be my passion, but I haven’t had much time for that in months. My newsletter keeps getting new free subscribers, but I just haven’t had the time to do anything with it. My weekend book business has totally stalled out.

In terms of the business, I’m spread really thin. I’m putting out information on Facebook, newsletters, and webinars. This weekend, I even started playing around with TikTok videos with autism information. I won’t share yet, because these videos were definitely the first pancake. 750 views aren’t bad, but I can do better.

Today, I’m making a list of everything that I’ve been doing and assessing the ROI of each activities. I definitely can’t keep managing a political life, along with everything else. I read a statement at this Monday’s School Board meeting and published the statement in a Jersey education newsletter, but I think that’s my last performance. I think I would prefer to support people in a behind-the-scenes way, and put all my efforts into my business and writing. I’ll only continue to do organizing that directly benefits Ian.

I need an ebook to support my autism information business, so I’m going to be writing for the next three months. I’ll probably share bits of it behind a paywall at The Great Leap, so I won’t bother to mention it here.

I finding it difficult to say “no.” I like doing everything, but I know I have to make some touch decisions about how to spend my time. I definitely need to make time to just drink coffee with my husband at the little French place in town.

I hope you all are having a great weekend!