I have caught myself the last few weeks in particular, feeling overwhelmed with blogging, kids’ activities, our garage sale, and just life in general. Almost all of these “things” were self-inflicted on my part, and I’m sure many of you can relate to the feeling of running around, stressed out, cranky, and looking at your clock to see where you need to be next.
I feel like I’m the last person on the planet to offer some type of solution to this problem. We are about as busy as a family can get. However, I tried something this week that I haven’t really been consciously aware of before. This week my focus was simply on my priorities.
I decided before my children were born that being an involved mom was one of my highest priorities. There have been times I’ve been great at this and others where I could have been better. I’m not perfect, nor will I pretend to be. I have done the best I could under sometimes difficult circumstances but am very grateful for the opportunity to be a mother to my “Fab 5.”
However, with the chaos of life, focusing on my priorities has given me hope… Hope that I’m doing what is best for my family, not what others want me to do or to be. Hope that I’m teaching these little people wrong from right and what they need to learn.
This week the blog has been bare, I haven’t gotten hardly anything done on my to-do list and have felt I’ve barely kept my head above water. I don’t want any of you to think that I have it all together. I don’t.
However, I hear all the time that people don’t know “how I do it with 5 kids”and want to be sure you understand that the answer is sometimes I don’t! Sometimes I order a pizza (like tonight) and don’t follow the menu plan. Sometimes we don’t get our nightly reading in. Many times I fail at doing what is on my to-do list or goals sheet.
But, sometimes the priorities do get done. Today I spent the entire morning focusing on my family. My youngest son had a dentist appointment first thing this morning. I chose to leave the phone in the car to avoid Facebook, the internet, and any other distractions and I was able to play with my youngest daughter while we waited in the waiting room. After that the three of us visited the twins’ Kindergarten class (what a fun group!) We got home and grilled some steaks that I grabbed in town since I was running behind and had lots of stories for Jason about our morning. After school, when everyone was home we completed our first Easter tradition (dyeing our Easter eggs) and the kids have been playing outside since.
I’m not telling you this to pat myself on the back or get approval. I’m telling you because none of us have it all together. However, it felt amazing put down the phone, leave the laptop off and to just focus on one of my priorities…my family.
If you are feeling strung out, stressed out, and tired, I encourage you to make a list of your priorities and start saying “NO” to what isn’t on the list. You might be surprised how freeing it is!
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