Exhausted? How to Reconnect with Home Projects When Life Feels Like Too Much

Feeling exhausted, burnt out, and like you just can't get ahead? You're not alone — and in this episode, Sheri gets real about the mental weight of mortgages, kids' activities, tax season, and the pressure of everyday life on the West Coast. She opens up about why creative output stalls when we're running on empty, and shares the simple mindset shift that helped her get her spark back.

Sheri also shares two spring home projects she's excited to tackle — a deck refresh and a playroom cabinet makeover — and talks about why working with your hands might be exactly the reset you need right now.

In this episode:

• Why so many of us are hitting a wall (and why that's okay)
• The power of getting outside and working on something tangible
• Sheri's upcoming deck painting and playroom projects
• A new in-home DIY training service launching in South Surrey

If you've been dreaming about refreshing your home but can't seem to find the time or energy, this one's for you.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:01

Have you been feeling exhausted and burnt out and feeling like you've hit a wall lately? Well, you are not alone. I am right there with you. You're listening to Home DIYs for Busy Women, a safe space to dream, learn, make mistakes, and talk about the real stuff when it comes to home DIYs and beyond. I'm Sherry, a self-taught, passionate DIYer, working mom of two girls living in the West Coast of British Columbia. I am passionate about helping you create a home you love. So yeah, I don't know if you guys have been feeling the same way as me, but I have just been feeling exhausted. Um, I feel like there's just so much going on in our world and so much going on at home and with girls' activities and the like desire to improve and get some projects done around the house. And I just I've been having trouble hitting record on making a podcast. And I was having um a meeting the other day with uh some business friends of mine, and uh I just said it out loud. I was like, you know, I think the reason why I've been having trouble is that I I'm exhausted. Um and it just made me think that, you know what, maybe some of you have been feeling that exact uh same way. I mean, there's just day-to-day, there just seems to be like so many things going on. And it's hard to slow down and kind of like take priority of um like what you want to do and in my case, um what you want to talk about. And um, it's also uh tax season here too, and like me and me and my husband, you you just kind of feel feeling the pressure of um the cost of living in British Columbia and uh the amount of money it takes to run a family and uh do all these things that it it just it just feels like life has just been um hitting us lately with um or maybe being a true adult has been hitting us lately in terms of you know the the mortgage, the two kids, the paying the taxes, and you know, trying to get ahead and plan for the future and all that. And uh yeah, and it just made me think that maybe some of you guys are feeling the exact same way. And I just wanted to kind of let you know that um you're not alone. I feel like a lot of us are feeling that um that pressure to, you know, make things run and move smoothly. And uh yeah, and it can be a lot sometimes. And I feel like for me the other day, just recognizing it that um like just to kind of say it a lot, I'm like, I'm exhausted. And I was like, right, that's why I'm just yeah, I'm having a little bit of uh trouble with my creative output. And then like you tie in all like the global events that are like, oh, like too big to comprehend sometimes, where it's I think very natural for us to be feeling um tired and um yeah, exhausted. So if you're feeling the same way, I am with you, I am not alone. Um sorry, you are not alone. And uh it's nice to know I'm not alone either. Um, yeah, and it just kind of got me thinking about like um how to combat that and kind of get back to the things that I really love doing and um how to, you know, prioritize. And it did help that at least this past week here in uh BC, the or the Laura Mainland, the weather was like fantastic. I feel like that um vitamin D, that sunshine, those clear blue skies were exactly what I needed to feel invigorated. And I even noticed that in my kids too, they were just so and my husband like were all just like a little bit extra happy and um, you know, kind of get that spring energy. Um, so it's got me kind of thinking about okay, what what do I want to like get back to doing? I feel like since starting um trying to like do this podcast regularly, and uh, you know, I have some uh business goals and things like that. I've kind of stepped away from uh doing the home projects that I really love to do. And so I kind of took the time this weekend to think about, okay, like what kind of is exciting me about um things to improve our space. And so there's two projects um that I'm really hoping to work on soon. Um the first one being our back deck. We were hoping to be replacing the whole thing at this point, but uh interest rates and you know, food prices, gas prices, that has had to be pushed back a little bit, which is totally fine. And so I'm like, how can I improve it in the short term? And uh I was thinking of maybe just doing like a coat of paint on the deck might buy us like another year or so of like a nice summer of like kind of freshening it up and making it look better, and then um when we're able to in a year or two uh um do the whole revamp of the deck. But so yeah, that's kind of what I'm thinking because we haven't set out our patio furniture and my husband's gonna be pressure washing this week. So I'm like, okay, maybe it's a good time to think about um painting or staining our deck. So that's kind of my first one and probably do that one first. And the second thing I would really love to do is um create, well, finish up our playroom, which is we put in new cabinets, well, new to us cabinets in there when we did our downstairs bathroom. And that was like a year and a half ago now, um, which seems crazy. It doesn't seem that long. Um, but I have some cabinet painting to do, and I would like to put some crown molding to kind of finish off the space because the cabinets don't reach the ceiling. And I have some fun ideas of making it like a cute little workspace for me, and maybe even like painting a mural on one of the walls for the kids to make it look like a bit more like a playroom. Um, and maybe getting them involved in that, although that kind of stresses me out, the idea of kids in permanent paint cans. But we'll see. Anyway, so I just have some creative plans there. But uh the first one I want to do is uh get our outside um ready to go for uh the summer, which I think would be really fun. Um, but yeah, and so just thinking about like simple things like that. And I also find with home projects it's so nice. It's a really good reason to like disconnect and just like focus on working on something with your hands and like you're not um having screen time, or you're uh if I'm doing the deck, I'm outside. And it just there's something just so organic about just working with your hands and um making something better and having it be very black and white. On you start it and it looks one way, you finish and it looks better. And there's something immensely satisfying about that. So I'm actually really excited to get some of those projects started again. Um and I'll definitely be figuring out, I don't know how to yet, but I'm gonna figure out how to do some time-lapse videos to make sure I can uh document it and uh show before and after. So excited about that. And then yeah, with um my um finishing of our playroom, I thought it would be. And maybe you guys could tell me if you'd be interested in something like this, but I was thinking it might be cool to make it like an event bright event and I can teach how to like paint um cabinets in real time in in my own home and kind of make it more of an event thing to learn a DIY skill in person in like a group setting. I thought it might be kind of a fun idea. So yeah, just kind of lots of things that I'm toying around with in my brain of um, yeah, getting back to things that I really enjoy. And so I think for you to take away from that is um if you've been feeling the same type of exhaustion that I have, is kind of um yeah, go back to choose something that you enjoy doing and uh make that a priority. Um and get outside. I can't tell you, like I was at the park for like two hours uh with my girls this afternoon, and it was so nice just sitting in the sun and um just being outside with them. So I think that makes a huge, huge difference uh to our mental health and like kind of gets me excited to plan again. So that would be my encouragement to you. And if you also, if you have any desire to um learn DIY skills, I am ready to teach you. Um I've just started in-home DIY training. So if you're looking to learn skills like caulking or painting or uh drywall patch repair or things like that, or we can even just kind of brainstorm in your house, um, contact me at hello at sherywalker.ca or on Instagram at sherry.walker underscore DIY. Um and I'd love to chat with you about what that could look like for you. Um I'm doing some work on my website and I'll um have more information uh available, but I have to find the time to get that all up and running, which I'm sure a lot of you guys can relate to. Um it's like, how does a week go by so fast? I don't know. It just seems to fly. Um, but yeah, I would love to hear from you, hear what your thoughts are and uh what's making you excited uh for spring. So kind of a different episode um today, just kind of just chatting with you. And I would love to hear from you about again what your plans are and uh if you have any thoughts about the plans that I have, and I'll be sure to document it along the way. But I hope you are off to a wonderful start of your week. And uh thank you so much for listening. And uh, from one DIY or to another, just find something that you really enjoy doing and uh go for it. All right. Bye.