My personality is generally that of a go-to girl. I can get it done and move from one thing to the next in a flurry. Yet I’ve noticed that I can get overwhelmed with all that has to be done and become a whirlwind of activity and not much fun to be around. A mom who’s constantly busy, busy, busy. The Busy Mom trap catches those of us who figure that if we can get it all done and just stay busy enough, we’ll be good moms. We say yes to most anything that’s asked of us, because we’ll be deemed successful moms and good moms if we’re seen doing everything for everyone.
If you suspect you’ve slipped into the Busy Mom trap, let me assure you that you are not alone. Allow me to pose two questions: What do you spend your time doing? And why do you spend your time doing it? An overwhelming to-do list causes a mom to be more focused on tasks rather than relationships. Those things are important because they are how we live out serving our families and our communities. I’m not saying that we should cast aside our families and responsibilities in order to play with our children. I am saying we need to establish priorities and find balance so that we can accomplish both.
I encourage you to prioritize your life. You can’t do your best at anything if you’re doing too much of everything. Count your jars and recognize that if you try to shove another jar onto your shelf, a very precious jar may just fall off and shatter.
Answer the following questions:
- Do you know the why behind what you have to do? Get out your to-do list, and beside each to-do, answer the question “Why?”
- How much time do you spend each day doing versus being? (Sleep doesn’t count toward either)
- During your being time, what do you do?
- How can you live out being with each of your family members? Formulate new “to-be” lists (instead of your to-do list), and jot down a few ideas of how you can spend time with each family member. Carry that list around with you!
We all have responsibilities we must attend to, but it’s so important to carve out special times to do fun things with our kids—vacations, day trips to parks, or even pajama days where we hang out at home and do simple fun things they want to do. Sometimes being happens accidentally, but you usually have to look for opportunities. If you make family a habit and stick to it, it really becomes part of the whole way your family does life.
Taken with Permission from Tracey Eyster’s, Be the Mom.
