"BUSY"NESS
"I'm so busy."
"I'm too busy."
How many times have you said these words? Me, about a million! I used to say it so much it seemed to be my mantra.
Having a mantra like that brought out the worst in me. As today's society encourages this "busy" mentality as if it's a badge of honor, I got sucked right into it. I am sharing a bit of my story in hopes that you can avoid my mistakes.
Truthfully, I got a little temporary ego boost from all of my "busy". Let me describe my "busy"- I was a Religious education teacher at our church, a Creative Memories Consultant, PTA President (2 years), on the Prinicipal's Advisory Council, Superintendent's Advisory Council and decided to go back to work full time while getting my 2 boys to all of their activities while my husband worked a job that was always more than 40 hours! I don't tell you these so you can pat me on the back but to share with you my insanity. Maybe you are thinking, 'that's not too bad"? Well, for me it was too much! Now, I know my limits. At first, there was a sick pleasure in hearing other woman say, "how do you do it all?" " You are amazing...." It just fueled my ego. We all know that ego will get you into trouble!
Saying "yes" to everyone outside my home who asked me to be a part of something caused me to put my family last. Our daily life was a disaster, I was stressed and this transferred to everyone else in my home. Our lives were completely chaotic and disorganized, I even forgot to pay a bill! Who does this? Me! I thought I was in control as I got a little selfish high by filling up the calendar. The more I thought I was in control the worse it got. I finally reached a point where I just shut down and began to withdraw. Then I beat myself up for letting all of these people down that I had promised some of my time to. It became a vicious cycle.
I had to face the fact that all of these wonderful positions I had volunteered for were making me sick! I was emotionally and physically broken...I was no good to ANYONE! I really wasn't in control.....
By the grace of God, I had to humbly admit I couldn't do it all. I needed to identify my priorities because there was absolutely NO balance in my life.
My priorities were my faith, family and my health. These still are my priorities! As I took a look at those 3 areas I realized how out of whack my life had become. I knew I needed to remove myself from anything not in the priority list to find balance. This took awhile, about a good 6 months. It was comforting to know during that time that I had a plan. I started simply by making time, 5 minutes a day to pray. The next thing I did was to add exercise, do or die 30 minutes/day. I had to! This really started me on the quest to find my balance. Once I was able to step down from position after position I began to feel so much better. It was like taking in a big breath of fresh country air! I felt invigorated. I had more energy to spend quality time with my family and friends. I think I was actually a nicer person too! My children heard me say on a daily basis, "hurry up" because I was always rushing from one activity to the other. Once we didn't have so many things to do I stopped saying "hurry up".
I realized I wasn't crazy in the mental health sense but completely unbalanced in my mind, body and spirit. I still catch myself when my ego tries to take over. The difference is that now I stop and pray to God for guidance and wisdom. I ask God to put me where He needs me to be the most help each day. This has given me awareness which allows me to keep life in balance 90% of the time! Through prayer I realized God created me along with everyone else to live the best version of ourselves. Each day is a blessing and should be lived accordingly.
For the entire story, you can go to www. organizeyouinsideandout.com to read the ebook, Digging Deeper.
