I have missed blogging! I have been so busy living my real life that I had to let blogging go for a little while. And I'm back today. I hope this means I'm back to regular blogging but I'm not sure. Some exciting opportunities have come our way at work. My husband and I work together for the same company, which has had a marathon struggle in this economy. It's beginning to look like we are turning a corner, and that means the opportunity to do the real work. And that means adjustments for me in my daily life, and continuing to look for the balance to live it all healthfully and richly.Recently, Rhoda over at Southern Hospitality posted about balancing blogging with her real life. Would you believe it? I didn't read that post. I didn't want to. Because I didn't want to think about what was working and what was not working. Not just yet. Now I think I am ready.
Today, I rejoined FLY Lady. Do you know her? It's Marla Cilley, who wrote a book and runs a website entirely devoted to helping people gain control of their lives and households. She stresses getting rid of clutter, developing healthy habits, and making household chores into quick and relatively effortless routines. She is a cheerleader for you when you are hard on yourself for your "failures". I had adopted many of her methods a few years ago, but I have gradually let one thing after another slide.
I don't know what the trigger is when I decide to change something big. What about you? What makes anyone decide to do better at something? Why quit smoking? Eat more nutritiously? Get regular exercise? Maybe I'm just being a late bloomer. Again. I didn't (and never do) make out New Year's resolutions. But maybe they have been percolating in the back of my brain. Maybe because of the beginning of Lent? I've never committed to a Lenten sacrifice, although as a Lutheran, I do observe Lent. I considered giving up chocolate, or sweets. But I must admit, I feared failure, as I am surrounded by temptations as we entertained international clients last week, and have more arriving this week. I have a terrible sweet tooth, and I know that giving up sweets would be a very effective sacrifice. But I also really think you have to have your mind very focused on why you are doing it, and right now, I think I would be doing it to impress myself with how "good" I can be. Which, besides missing the point of making a sacrifice, is a set-up to beat myself up should I give in to temptation, and be "bad". So I am not going there this year.
So that's where my head has been in the last few days. Thinking about busyness, clutter, Lent, and doing a better job taking care of myself, my family and our home.I don't know what the trigger is when I decide to change something big. What about you? What makes anyone decide to do better at something? Why quit smoking? Eat more nutritiously? Get regular exercise? Maybe I'm just being a late bloomer. Again. I didn't (and never do) make out New Year's resolutions. But maybe they have been percolating in the back of my brain. Maybe because of the beginning of Lent? I've never committed to a Lenten sacrifice, although as a Lutheran, I do observe Lent. I considered giving up chocolate, or sweets. But I must admit, I feared failure, as I am surrounded by temptations as we entertained international clients last week, and have more arriving this week. I have a terrible sweet tooth, and I know that giving up sweets would be a very effective sacrifice. But I also really think you have to have your mind very focused on why you are doing it, and right now, I think I would be doing it to impress myself with how "good" I can be. Which, besides missing the point of making a sacrifice, is a set-up to beat myself up should I give in to temptation, and be "bad". So I am not going there this year.
Well, that and wishing the temperature would get colder so I could get outside and go skating at the outdoor skating rink.
1 comment:
I share so many of the thoughts you mentioned in your post. I'm a thinker. I get up early and watch the sunrise and when my children get up they will say, "What have you been doing all morning?" Umm, thinking.
Anyway, we all strive to get a better grasp on life, don't we? From the food we eat to the home we live in to our bodies, relationships, etc. I think we long for discipline even as we rebel against it. Or at least, I do.
It's a balancing act. You don't want to be legalistic and who doesn't want to have enough freedom to enjoy eating something that tastes delicious if you're entertaining clients? But what if the sweets we loved so much became less of a focus? (I'd venture to say that I love sweets more than just about anybody...)
Jesus wants us to have freedom and not be a slave to anything. So, the question is, does scheduling bring freedom or is it a form of slavery? I think it depends upon our motivations and how we put it into practice.
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