My mother is back in college, taking art classes, so her artwork in progress takes up the entire dining room table, along with her supplies taking up the rest of the room. I'm in school plus playing baseball on two area teams. I also have my social life, or what time is left for it with a steady girlfriend. My step-brother is going to graduate from high school next month, so there are prepations underway for that event and to get him into college. Being busy is a good thing.
Useful stress is good.
Pressure to meet deadlines causes more little tiffs in the the regular household but even moreso in the blended family household where priorities are even more clearly noticed and filed for future reference. We can learn to be less critical, more tolerant, and to budget our time wisely. We can learn to pull together and support each other family member's activities and enjoy the victories and suffer the defeats together. Sharing joy is twice as good and sharing sadness makes it that much less painful. So let's try and be more tolerant of each family member's activities and pull together as a team, helping each other instead of hindering or trying to cause guilt from missed activities or other reasons we may feel sleighted because of other family member's activities.