As busy moms we are always in the pursuit of this elusive “balance.” This idea that, if we do it right, we can juggle it all without dropping any of the balls… That’s is all just BS! It’s impossible! You will drop the balls…. All the balls if you aren’t careful. Or you are so focused on not dropping the balls that you aren't really LIVING your life. If (more like when) that first ball gets dropped, it's more than likely the one that reminds us to take care of ourselves. Again, you will more than likely drop the balls… but if YOU choose which balls to drop, the most important ones can be protected. Ok, enough with the juggling metaphor… My point is, not every part of your life can be great at the same time and that’s ok. That’s more than ok, that’s life! Something always has to give. You need focus on your priorities and sometimes say “F the rest.” You need to truly decide what is important to you right now. Not anyone else, YOU! …"ok, Alison… but HOW?" “I’m living mostly in survival mode, there isn’t anything else I can let slide” “I already feel like I’m not doing enough, there is nothing else I can let go of so that I can prioritize myself” "Yes, that makes sense, but how to I identify my priorities and then how to I decided what can be let go?” The first thing is to distinguish between priorities (health, family, relationships, personal goals, etc.) and to-dos (laundry, cleaning, appointments, etc.). The priorities always have to be put before the to-dos! ...and no that doesn’t mean never do laundry (you wish). It simply means your priorities lead. Again, makes sense, buuuutttt the issues come in when actually decided how to devote and divide your time. This is HARD. I recently read an interesting article from SwimBikeMom, that I knew would help my YOU, my tribe. She calls it the Suck Line Method and it works like this:
Everything above the line gets your attention and focus for the week. Everything below that line you completely forget about FOR THE WHOLE WEEK. Everything below the line just “sucks” for one week. Maybe next week some of the "suck" things get to go above the line, you rotate them around a bit, other things come up, but THIS week you focus on ONLY what’s above the line. This whole concept was very intriguing to me. So, as promised, I tested it out over the past 2 weeks. These were my lists for the past two weeks: And here are my lessons learned:
I know you’ve been nodding along with me over there on the other side of the screen. It all makes sense, it sounds simple enough but the question is will you do it? So often self care and putting yourself first is one of those things that moms just think about, and think about, but struggle pulling the trigger and really doing it. So let ME put you first! Click here to book a time to chat with me so we can start moving you from thinking to action asap. Its free..there's no obligation. Let’s just sit down and knock this thing out together. |