Stop trying to get on top of everything.

get on top of everything

I often find myself feeling frustrated that…

Yet again the dirty washing is overflowing into every room of our house.

The kitchen benches are barely visible beneath all the stuff.

For the fourth week running I’ve forgotten to ring back the three people who called today but I didn’t answer because I had nowhere to hide from children who suddenly morph into screaming banshees as soon as I dare try to talk on the phone.

My plan to actually get ahead of work tasks is mocking me for being so idealistic.

That the list of things I need to catch up on only ever seems to be growing.

 

Just merely thinking about all of the things I need to get on top of makes me feel overwhelmed.  But it’s more than just frustrating, it is also paralysing.  It’s almost like the more things I think I need to take care of, the less I’m able to do. I feel like there is just too much, and I have no bloody idea where to start.

 

What’s the solution?

 

Doing less and simplifying, of course, is going to help. But some things just have to be done, and there is no one else to do them but us. So how do we not get into that place of overwhelm?

 

We drop the expectation that we should be on top of everything.

 

It’s unrealistic to expect you’ll be killing it in all areas of your life, at all times.  It’s more realistic to expect the ebb and flow.

 

The never-ending cycle of sometimes being a really present mother but having slop-heap of a house.

Or smashing it on the work front while your relationship suffers because you haven’t actually had a conversation on anything other than the kids in weeks.

Or your social life will be thriving while your career doesn’t really feel like it’s going anywhere.

 

I used to beat myself up because I didn’t have it all happening at once.  Until I realised it was actually impossible to do that.  Or it is possible but you’ll burn yourself out and end up miserable trying to do all the things.

 

Now I just do what I can and try to leave loads of white space for things I want to do.  Yes I feel calmer and happier in a clean house, but the reality is, if I want to get this blog post written for you, or film some videos or hell, even pay the phone bill, I also have to accept that  it’s not all going to happen.

 

And that doesn’t mean I’m failing at anything. It just means that every day I get to choose where I want to be winning.

 

Because when you really think about it.  Where do you want to be winning?

 

At work?

In your relationships?

With your kids?

Or in the clean floor awards? 

 

Do you need to stop trying to get on top of everything too?

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