As you probably know by now, I got married almost a year ago (!!), and it’s been an adventure. We’ve survived a global pandemic, living with my parents and navigating our life together while he is a Student Athlete.
My husband plays football at a Jr. College in Central Utah in a very small town. He hopes to get recruited by a bigger school and finish out his Engineering degree while playing football. It’s been a life-long dream of his, and when we first started dating, he was just getting started.
Navigating Student Athlete life is tough. There’re the early morning lifts, the meetings (too many meetings, in my humble opinion), practice and, oh yeah, no time for a job. We’ve been blessed because I have two great jobs, but we also are living in the middle of nowhere, so that means I drive. A lot.
It’s only about 1 hour and 20 minutes to make it to work, but it is 87 miles. I do the drive twice a week and just shove all of the things I can’t do remotely into the days I’m up here. In no way is this my ideal set up–I’m good with a 10-minute commute—but it works for our season of life.
So, like I said, I spend a lot of time in the car each week. I am a big fan of Audible (send me your suggestions!) and as the leaves have been changing it’s been a gorgeous ride.
But. That’s me being very positive.
It’s a lot. I know I shouldn’t complain, because I am blessed and am lucky that my schedule works out the way it does. I’m happy my husband has a chance to play the game he loves and is getting a great education while doing it. And I know some people make that commute Every. Single. Day. So two times a week isn’t a big deal.
But. It’s a lot.
I realized I needed to adjust something, but what?
We need the money from both jobs, I don’t necessarily want to even leave one of my jobs, and husband isn’t going to give up his life-long dream. My attitude is the easiest answer, but sometimes that is hard! My feelings are valid, but I also don’t want to dwell in the negativity.
So, on one of my commutes, Kylee’s blog “Embracing The And” (https://balancehealthandhealing.com/embracing-the-and/) came to mind. Kylee does 
such a good job reminding me that I can feel two things at once!
I can feel grateful AND tired from driving. I can feel like it’s a time to unwind AND dread the 1:20 commute. I can love my new life with my husband AND understand that it’s okay to be frustrated sometimes.
Feeling both emotions doesn’t make one more powerful. It just means I have two hands to hold my emotions with. I’m so grateful I get to do what I love AND live in a small, rural community with my sweet husband where we can enjoy riding our four-wheeler on the roads.
Reminding myself of this every week (okay twice a week) is a great stabilizer in my mood and has really helped the last few weeks! I’m able to ground myself before I drive that I am lucky AND I am sacrificing, and that’s perfectly okay.