Do you often feel overwhelmed and too busy? Is it possible that you’ve over committed yourself? Here’s 5 signs that maybe you’ve done just that!
You’re Uncomfortable with Saying No
Let’s face it. Some of us are natural born servers. We want to help people as much as we can, especially if they had the nerve to ask us! We end up saying yes more than we say no, in an effort to please everyone. What we don’t realize when we do this is that we’re only hurting ourselves. We need to be carefully selecting the things we say yes to.
You’re Always in a Hurry
I find that when I’ve committed to too many things, I run out of time to do things around my house and with my family. Once I recognize what’s going on, I pull back from some commitments and suddenly, time is freed up and I no longer have to rush around like a crazy person!
You Are Always on the Run
When you go, go, go, how do you ever find the time to cuddle with your kids? Read books? Enjoy life? It’s nearly impossible. Believe me, I’ve been guilty of this on more than one occassion and it’s not a fun way to live life. Make sure to schedule yourself some down time. A more relaxed mom is a much happier mom!
You Couldn’t Possibly Squeeze Another Thing Into Your Schedule
You have someone that you really need to meet with, but you can’t find another place in your schedule to squeeze it in. Or what about this one? Your long lost childhood friend wants to come for a visit and you won’t be available at all. It’s sad, really. I know things like this can happen occasionally without having an overbooked schedule, but if you’re living this as the norm, you may want to think about changing your schedule up a bit. You’ll be much happier if you do!
How Do I Know What Things To Weed Out?
It can be hard to know where to begin cutting back on the things in your schedule can’t it? We have 6 kids and they often need to be at different places, especially now that they’re getting older! It’s hard, but it’s not impossible. We need to evaluate a few things and determine how important it really is by asking ourselves a few questions.
- Does this add value to our lives?
- Who will benefit by me committing to this?
- Do I enjoy it or does it serve an important purpose?
- Is this affecting my health? (eating poorly because of it, not taking care of yourself, etc.)
- Is there any way to combine this with another task (for instance, if you’re driving one kid to karate and another to ballet, can you check with both studios to see if it’s possible to switch up their schedules to be all on the same day and the same time?)
- Is someone else available to do this, instead of me?
In short, you need to decide if this is important enough to you to continue being frazzled and on the run. We all need to become OK with the word no.
Recently, I was asked if I could assist in one of our church’s Sunday School classes. While, I love helping out at church, one of the places I don’t feel called, is to help out in the Children’s Sunday School classes. Not to mention that doing so would put an unnecessary burden on me on Sunday mornings. Being a person who likes to please others, I almost said yes, out of obligation. A feeling of dread was beginning to take over me. Why would I say yes if I’m dreading it before I even began? Thankfully, I got a hold of myself and was able to graciously say no and let them know that I’d be happy to fill in on occasion. That was a much happier solution for my needs!
Finding that balance is hard, but trust me, it’s sooo worth it!
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