April 12, 2010

Life is a juggling act! At times it is impossible to keep all the balls in the air. We often try to take on more than we can realistically manage to juggle, and the only way to keep things on an even keel is to place a couple of those balls aside for a while. While I definitely believe that we can have everything, and do everything, we truly desire, it is not rocket science to realize that we can’t do everything at once.

Sometimes, when life is a juggling act of even more difficulty than usual, we really need to prioritize. It is important to understand too, that making something a priority in our schedules does not mean that it is more important that other things in our lives, simply that it is more urgent.

At times, we need to temporarily set aside some of the things we want to be doing, simply because we cannot do everything at once. If we try to fit too many tasks and activities into our lives at the one time, we are not only going to drive ourselves to exhaustion, but we are likely to wind up with many half-baked results.

It is better to realistically consider which projects are the ones needing our immediate attention, and to focus the majority of our time and energy onto these areas. This may even mean deciding to temporarily cut right back on the time that we usually devote to something we love doing.

On a personal level, I have recently decided that in the short term, I need to spend less time writing for this website. It was a difficult choice for me, as writing about personal development and inspirational topics is the thing I am most passionate about doing. I absolutely love writing for Choosing Life My Way, and I am going to keep doing it as long as my fingers have access to a keyboard.

When I started this site last year, almost every waking moment that I wasn’t taking care of my kids was spent either writing articles, or in some way working on the development of the site. All this work paid off, and I now have a site with some 100+ articles that I feel wonderful about writing, and from the feedback I get, I know have also meant something to other people as well.

While I am deeply committed to the ongoing development of this site, and to writing from my heart about following our hearts, I realized that I need to prioritize other areas for the moment. I will continue to write as much as I can, when I can, while being conscious not to burn the midnight oil, burn the candle at both ends, and burn out.

By choosing to spend less time writing, I am not in any way declaring that my writing is less important to me. It’s simply that I cannot do everything at once. I am not Superwoman, I am just an average human being, and I must arrange my time in a way that the things that are most urgent get immediate priority.

This year, Ian and I have been planning a lot of big life changes and new projects, and there don’t seem to be enough hours in the day to fit everything in. I have become aware that I need to put most of my time, energy and focus into the projects that will most affect the future for our family. This period of time is definitely proving to be a good learning experience in terms of time management, and setting priorities. Even more than usual, right now my life is a juggling act of circus standards!

There are some things in our lives that need to be constant; the non-negotiable elements of our routines. For me, if there is one ball I absolutely must keep in the air, it is spending time with my kids. Whatever else is going on in my life, this is something that is absolutely essential. Time must be made for my children.

One thing that really helps in regard to parenting my children, whilst trying to keep multiple other balls in the air, is that most of my work is done from home. This means that I am physically present the majority of the time, and even if I have my head buried in my laptop, my kids can see me, and I can hear them.

My kids are also brilliant at being able to occupy themselves, and in big part this is due to training. From a young age, we have encouraged them to be independent and to learn to play together and to amuse themselves, rather than expecting constant stimulation from adults. The payoff is that I am now able to work quite productively while still keeping an eye on my children.

Another ball that none of us can ever afford to put aside is taking care of ourselves. If we are trying to run on empty, without stopping to rest and recharge ourselves, we are not only heading for burn-out or break-down, but the quality of our juggling is likely to be pretty poor.

While life is a juggling act, there are no prizes for keeping the most balls in the air. What is important is to make sure that we are spending time on the things that are essential in our lives, and not being afraid to put some of our projects on the back-burner for awhile, so that we can give enough time and energy to things that we believe require our immediate attention.

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