I've been trying to find some balance in my life lately and it's been pretty hard. I feel like I'm focusing so much on certain things (husband, child, laundry, dishes... you know how it goes) and everything else just drops off the planet. I was thinking about this the other night and a book that I read in college came to mind. It was The 8th Habit from Effectiveness to Greatness by Stephen R. Covey. I don't remember everything that this book said, but there was one thing that I did remember.
He talks about how if we are trying to reach too many goals at once the odds are that we wont reach any of them. We only really have the mental capacity to focus on a few things at a time. He also said that we have to be striving to improve in four areas of our life. They are mentally, physically, spiritually, and emotionally (I think, it's been over 3 years since I read this!) So I started to think about those four areas of my life and this is how it's looking right now.
Mentally - If you consider PBS kids mental stimulation then I'm doing great! I don't remember the last time that I picked up a book and read it because I wanted to be mentally stimulated. Or tried to pick up a new skill to mentally stimulate myself.
Goal - I like to learn new things. Something that I would like to learn right now is to crochet. I did this with knitting (taught myself) so I'm going to pick up an instruction book and figure it out!
Physically - Sadly... all real physical activity has gone out the window for me due to some health problems. Okay, I'll be honest... they went out the window before the health concerns so now I'm really really missing it! I miss moving my body! I want to take better care of my body and this has dropped out of my life because I have not made time for it.
Goal- Since I can't do too much right now, I'm going to start just with stretching and eating better. Plan out my meals so that I get plenty of fruits and veggies in every day. That's my start.
Spiritually - Once again, I'm doing the bare minimum here. I'm not doing anything to grow spiritually right now which is really sad to me. I once again don't make time each day to read my scriptures or have real reflective thoughts or prayer like I should. I don't think that blessing the food and going to church on Sunday is cutting it.
Goal - Take the first 15 minutes of Tru's nap time to read/ponder/pray. Open the door back up to really allowing the spirit into my life. It's not that I don't want to do this, I just haven't made the time and like every other relationship in life it takes time and effort for it to grow!
Emotionally - Last night I watched a movie with my sweetheart. As we watched the movie I really thought about my relationship with my husband and my son. I tend to put that on the back burner too to try to get "things" done. I need to work harder on connecting with them on an emotional level, and not just on a temporal level to meet their temporal needs.
Goal - Take time everyday to play with Tru. Not just have him play by himself and follow me around while I do my own thing. Have reading time, singing time, jump on the bed time so that we can feed our emotional connection. Spend my night time with Trent. Watch less t.v., don't surf the internet, but do things with him. Play games, work on house projects, go on dates. This one needs a lot of work. I need to think of a more specific goal for this because it's important.
Geez... no wonder why I feel so out of balance. I'm sorry if you spent the time to read through all of this but it's been very insightful to me. Time to re-prioritize and work on the things that will really feed my spirit.
4 comments:
Awesome post. I have been feeling like that for quite some time and since Kai has been gone I've had a lot of time to figure out what is most important in my life and fix it. A lot of things I need Kai here to help me fix :o) but I have changed so much being here by my lonesome! Changed for the better! I love ya...
Thanks for posting this. I have felt like there has been some imbalance in my life, but I haven't taken the time to assess everything. Your post has motivated me to think about my own goals and life balance.
I agree 100% with the different areas that you have broken down on this post: mentally, physically, spiritually, emotionally. I too, have heard this same advice (although I don't know if it was from the same source...I have never read The EIght Habit from Effectiveness...). I have truly tried to put this to use in my own life and I think it has made a HUGE difference. I feel like I use to have a million different goals floating around in my head and rather than being a doer, I was a dreamer. Now that I use this advice, I am finding that I actually accomplish the few...five or so goals that I set each year. Great post! Good luck with your goals!
Thanks for posting this Meg- I've felt the same way lately. Let us know how it goes!
Are you ok health wise??
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