Can't Do It All...

... And that's OK!

Don't worry... this is not another rant about how busy my life is and how I'm likely to have a nervous breakdown if something doesn't give... I can't promise that another post like that will never appear again, but not today...

Here's the thing... I'm really busy right now, and I didn't even recognize it until Phil pointed it out to me the other day. I'm having the time of my life!

I think my whole worldview might be shifting... again. There was a time in which I measured my worth... or the greatness of this family... by how busy we were. It felt good to rattle off the list of things the kids were doing... and the list of things I was doing... and the list of things Phil was doing... and then to sit back and look at people as if to say, "Well, isn't that impressive?" That time was short lived, however, because it didn't take long to realize I was burnt out... and completely exhausted... and no one was happy!

So... I came to this point where I would rattle off our lists and then sit back and look at people as if to say, "Don't you feel sorry for me?" Except, that wasn't real gratifying either, because I was even more burnt out... and beyond completely exhausted... and no one was happy... and we were, in fact, very unhappy... with each other... and with life in general!

Which brings me to this point in my life in which I have finally realized that we cannot do it all! And I am very tempted... yet... to rattle off our lists to you, but I think I will refrain. However, for the sake of making a point here, let me say that we are still very involved in many activities in our community, but as we are learning what our limitations are, we are choosing the things that we enjoy most and letting the other stuff slide... And that's really OK with me, because we're having fun together for the first time in a long time!

I am sure that over the course of the next few weeks and months I will make posts about our various activities, and there will be great moments... and not so great ones... There will likely be people who frequent this blog and make comments (oh, wait... no one ever makes comments)... or think things like, "They're still doing too much!" I hope I will come to terms with this, myself, before I burn out again, if it is true.

I think what I would really like, though, is to enjoy everything we're doing. I want to look back on this era of life and remember everything. When I "miss this" ten years from now, I want the memories to be good ones. And so, we are making a real effort to get involved in the things that make us happy... or maybe better... fulfilled. And, we are also making an effort to get uninvolved in the things that just add stress. Life's too short for that...

Eight minutes to piano lessons... By the way... I love piano lessons...

Lisa