I have a confession to make. Sometimes I try to do too many things at once. Confession number two- I do this a lot actually.
I’m often pretty good at doing a lot of things at once… Which actually becomes a problem because then I think I can continue scheduling 10 appointments into an 8 hour work day or plan to cook dinner, clean the house, respond to emails, and keep my kids happy all at the same time and expect it to work. (Spoiler alert- it doesn’t.)
Even if the tasks all get done, I end up burnt out and cranky. And more often than not, something gets forgotten or messed up.
When we juggle too many things into our days we may be able to keep them going for a short while but it doesn’t leave any room for things to go wrong.
Because this is life, people. We wake up sick. The car gets a flat tire. I live in New England and it’s practically a guarantee we’ll get a snowstorm whenever we have someplace important to be.
When our deadlines and schedules are maxed out we don’t have any extra space to react when things don’t go our way. Our stress levels spike and we can’t keep up.
The Value Of Less
Now I know we don’t always have complete control over our schedules. That would be lovely, right? Sometimes it’s impossible to rearrange anything at all.
But sometimes it’s more possible than we think.
In a culture that is all go go go and hustle harder, there is huge value in doing less.
Doing less means we can give more value and depth to our activities.
Doing less gives us the opportunity to “be all there” in our moments.
Doing less allows for flexibility centered around our priorities.
Despite its value, doing less can be hard. We fear we may be missing out. We don’t want to let others down and we feel bad saying no.
I hear you.
Saying no is hard to do and we can feel selfish having empty time slots on our calendar. We feel guilty focusing on one thing at a time.
But it’s worth the effort and the sacrifice. And with practice we can improve our ability to find our own limits and build a healthy balance of activities and rest.
The fact is, living a life of balance and boundaries is vital not only for our own health but also for those around us. We can encourage others to take space for themselves as well.
And slowly we can move towards being healthy and joyful together.
How are you doing with setting boundaries and finding rest this week? I hope you are finding ways to take care of yourself!
