Eva Bradley: Fitting in day job a work in progress

Being human is hard work. Being human and female is utterly exhausting. Lately I have had so many personal appointments that instead of fitting them in around work, work has been squeezed around the appointments.

A bit like some Kiwi men who have a side of fries with their Watties tomato sauce, the normal and appropriate balance has been lost and I feel like I am constantly running late for my own life.

Yesterday I arrived at work at a respectable hour, only to have to leave 30 minutes later for a filling and a lengthy session with a dental hygienist. On my way back to work, I scooted into the insurance company to lodge a claim for a car break-in (which took up a full day of admin last week) and I finally made it back to work just in time to leave again for a chiropractic appointment to straighten my wonky spine.

By 3pm I was at last firmly anchored at my desk and able to get a solid slew of work in ... for only two hours before I was due at my weekly massage (more issues with the bent back).

If I thought after that I might finally get the chance to relax and blob out at home, I then had to get my head around a long list of exercises given to me as homework by the chiropractor, then brush, floss, gargle and do basically everything else to my teeth that I had apparently been neglecting for most of my adult life.

Another 30 minutes was spent completing the at-home workout my trainer just gave me and then there was the groceries to unpack, the dinner to cook and bedtime ablutions before I finally fell into bed, exhausted.

My day of "work" had involved less than three hours.

While that might seem a fabulous result for people on a sure-fire salary, when you are self-employed it just means more to get done the next day. If only one didn't have to visit the lash technician, squeeze in a quick microdermabrasion and get to the shops for emergency foundation.

Did I mention being female is utterly exhausting?

I'm aware that my problems are shamefully first-world and I should be grateful I live in a country where some, like myself, consider it a necessity to have a hundred individual eyelashes glued to our own on a monthly basis. But even though I appreciate the fact that all of life's modern conveniences and services are at my doorstep, sometimes I wish they weren't so I could just keep my head down and tail up and get some work done.

I have no idea how people with 30-minute lunch breaks and small families manage to fit in all the required life admin. Brushing my own teeth properly seems monumentally time-consuming without having to worry about brushing other people's too.

The good thing is that after a diary filled with winter fix-its to get me and my bod in shape, I can see the end in sight and some days looming where I will have eight blissful hours of uninterrupted work. Which will be such a shock to the system I'll probably need to book a manicure at 11am to recover.

Eva Bradley is an award-winning columnist.