time

Now that school is back in session, vacations have been taken and we’ve transitioned from flexible days to scheduled ones, it seems appropriate to share it with you all.  Enjoy!

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T  I  M  E

Perhaps the question I receive the most here on the blog is “how do you do it?”

I’m completely flattered by the question and hope to give you some very practical and inspiring tips, but first I must make a little disclaimer:

I am not super-woman.

Women put a lot of pressure on ourselves to do it all and do it all well.   We want to be attractive wives and doting mothers and wise mentors and savvy shoppers and loyal friends … all the while keeping our houses immaculate, whipping up gourmet meals, growing our own vegetables, getting that recommended 30 minutes of cardio a day,  volunteering in our kids’ classrooms, decorating our homes and fitting in some good quality alone time.

And then when we can’t quite master these things, we get down on ourselves, compare our failures against the abundance of other women who seem to be successful and fall into a pit of insecurity – a debilitating feeling of not measuring up.

High expectations are good. Unrealistic expectations are from the devil.

And so, I must first say that I am in the same boat. I have so many things I want to be/do and so many that I think I should be/do and if I don’t get a handle on the truth, then I get into that same ugly tangle of insecurity.

What I’m discovering is that I must first admit that I CAN NOT DO IT ALL.

There, I’ve said it. Now say it with me …

I CAN NOT DO IT ALL.

Doesn’t that feel good? Freeing even?

The truth is, we must make sacrifices in one area to be able to achieve in another.

For instance, sometimes our family eats out so that I don’t have to do dishes.  Sometimes my boys are upstairs for hours playing legos by themselves while I am working.  Sometimes the laundry mounds up well beyond what my grandmother would deem acceptable.  Sometimes I don’t shower for four days.

You get the point and I’m sure you can relate.

So, to answer the question of how I do all that I do, I have to admit that I make plenty of sacrifices.

Okay, now that that is out of the way, let’s dive into the practical ways to carve out time for YOU.

It may sound backwards, but making time for yourself is one of the least selfish things you can do for your family, your friends and you.  You know that old saying “if momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy”? It’s really just making the point that the mother is often the one who sets the tone for the entire family.  If you are frazzled and unhappy and unfulfilled, most likely your family has picked up on it and are not functioning at their highest level either.

We decided several months ago to home school our children.  Many aspects of home school are appealing to us and we felt like this was the right direction for our family.  But as time went on and I began pouring more of myself into my blog and business, I started to have second thoughts.  I was talking with my sisters about it and they both shared their concerns with me.  One said, “I just worry that you will give so much to your kids that you will lose yourself – your own passions and interests outside of them.”  This was a big struggle for me.  While I felt like home school was the best thing for our kids educationally, the added responsibility on me to spend a large portion of my time, energy and creativity focused on schooling them would mean I would not have the time, energy and creativity to focus on my hobbies – namely my business.  If I chose not to home school because it would require too much of a sacrifice of my own interests would that make me the most selfish woman alive?  Or would our family function better if I was fulfilling my passions?  The fact that this Workshop exists and that our first-grader is at school down the street today tells you what decision we made!

{For the record, I’m a big fan of home school and I’m not saying that if you home school, you will not have time for yourself. This was just a conclusion that we came to for our family at this point in time.}

The point is, reflect on your life and make sure that you realize the importance of taking time to focus on you. Whether that means joining a book club or taking a bath, you need to take care of you. Ultimately, the goal here is to free up time for you to pursue your creative passions and turn them into a business – a nearly impossible task if this habit of taking time for you is not incorporated into your daily life.

So how exactly do you make time for yourself when you have so many other responsibilities?

Here is my list of time management lessons:

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