So a couple of nights ago at a leadership meeting for young womens, the second counselor gave this great analogy, and I really felt like she was describing my life right now to a T!She said imagine if you had to juggle one ball? Piece of cake, right? You could easily toss it back and forth from hand to hand without any thought. Now, throw in the second, it would be a little more challenging, but still pretty simple.
Add a third, it takes some skill but its doable, and not impossible
Try four, then five, then six. What would happen?
Eventually, one or more of the things you are juggling are bound to drop. When you go to pick that one up again, something else or all the other things drops, and you find yourself frustrated that you can not juggle all these things you had hoped to at once.
And her point was this: you can't juggle EVERYTHING at once and expect to never drop something. Eventually something will fall, and you will have to drop something else in order to pick it back up again...
I have been thinking a lot about that recently as I have been trying to live my life. I feel so much like the juggler, because lets face it, right now in my life I am trying to juggle WAY to many things. There just isn't enough time in the world for me to do EVERYTHING I need to do, and I am finally realizing that THAT IS OK.
Being a perfectionist, and slight OCD (no, I do not need to turn the lights on a million times). This is something I am almost not ok with. I am not OK with just turning my back to my obligations and responsibilities, it tears me up inside. I have been trying to adopt this motto recently "Treasure the DOING a little bit more, and the getting it done a little less" (it's from a conference talk) but I am having a really hard time with just even getting to the doing so that I can enjoy the doing a little more.
I feel like everything is piling up and I can not get to any of it...
So you are thinking "Wah Wah she such a winer!" but take a look at my to do list. Does it overwhelm you? Cause I feel like I am drowning !
Things I am trying to juggle right now in my life...
Working Full time (but really part time, but it is supposed to be full)
Running and teaching swimming lessons
Part time nanny roughly 10 hours a week...
Enrichment leader
Two visiting teaching companionships ( and you thought one was hard to schedule)
Young womens first counselor
Reading Breaking dawn
Running a Dance group
Trying to help Kory fix up the house, but by the time I get home I am beat
Being a wife/homemaker (I still haven't found the time to sew Kory's pants)
Taking care of zoe
Blogging about our life, and staying in touch with all our friends and family in cyberspace.
So you can see why I may be overwhelmed? Any advice as to what I can do to help stay on top of things and not just crawl into a cave and sleep cause that is where I am feeling like going right now...
10 comments:
I thought I would have a lot more time to do things once the baby was here and I quit my job, but I was wrong and sometimes I get so overwhelmed that before I know it nap time is over and I have not got a single thing done so I know what you mean. The only thing that sometimes works for me is to make a list and check things off as I go and I put the things that have to be done on the top of the list.
I have to agree with the lists idea. I can't remember anything these days. I also think that it's not wrong to say "no" to a calling. I know that they are thought upon and prayed about, and blah, blah, blah...but I also know that there are a ton of different people praying about who can do what, and they sometimes don't keep in absolute touch with each other. Long story short, not everyone is on the same page, and you end up with four different callings. Oh, and here's an unrelated thought. Does that juggler look like he's a bit too happy, in the pantaloons dept.? Seriously.
I used to be like that. When you have a baby, it doesn't take the 8 hour space that you're full time job once occupied, it takes all of it. 24 hours a day and then some. If you can learn to say no and slow down now before a baby comes then you might avoid a nervous breakdown. Because you're sitting still and quiet about 9 times every day feeding. If you're not used to being still and quiet, it can drive you nuts. You're thinking of all the things you've got to do as soon as the baby is done eating and missing those awesome moments.
Rainey, that's just where he's keeping his fourth pin.
Also, the ONLY thing that has helped me is to make a list and learn to prioritize. It's really hard for me cause I'm not very organized, but sometimes some things just have to be given the ole heave-ho because in relation to others they're just not as important.
And that includes keeping time for stuff you actually ENJOY doing. Enjoy doing without forcing yourself to enjoy it a little more.... like Blog stalking.
Rainey, I think it's because he has his pants tied off at the ankle for some reason. The blood's got to go somewhere. As to the juggling, you've got to be willing to say no to yourself. You like doing all those things, but you need to be able to set things aside until you have time for them, or just say I'd like to do that but it doesn't fit right now.
be normal and forget about your church responsibilities. :0) Just joking. When i get too overwhelmed i take a nap and say, "one thing at a time" then i only do one thing at a time. Don't worry about a to do list, just do what you can and the rest will be okay until tomorrow. Don't think further than today.
I'm with Kass- forget the church stuff. Or at least tell them you can't do a zillion things. I moved out of our last ward because they thought it was acceptable to give me multiple callings. But seriously, you've got to say no to something. And don't feel bad about it. Everyone has limits and if you don't reinforce where your limits are everyone will take advantage of you.
And sickos--he's on a unicycle. It has no where else to go...
and you want to add a baby to that! :)
That Juggler should really reconsider his pant selection!
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