**This is a guest post from Laurie @ Scene Of The Grime
The calm and balanced mind is the strong and great mind; the hurried and agitated
mind is the weak one. Wallace D. Wattles
Years ago, I derived self-worth from how busy I was, how many people needed me, what my life
looked like from the outside in. Does this sound familiar to anyone?
Guess what? Life happened. Tragic and traumatic events occurred. Chronic illnesses began. All
these challenges were a BLESSING in my life, though! Because they changed my perspective.
They cleared my mind and vision as to what matters most.
My goals became less about quantity and busy-ness and more about BALANCE!
Is BALANCE present and accounted for in your life? Today, let’s talk about three basic steps
we can take to encourage and emphasize BALANCE every day.
1-What’s Important to You?
Time to soul search a bit and really dig down to what’s more important to you in the “big
picture” sense of your life. Pray about it. Meditate on it. You may find that too much of your
time is going toward activities that don’t further the most significant elements of your life
journey.
2-When No Means Yes
The word “no” is in our language for a reason! When you say “no,” you are also saying “yes!”
YES to having more time to devote to priorities. YES to having more energy to contribute
to the world in your own unique way. YES to being in charge of how you spend your own
precious time! So, NO is a very important word to use regularly (and politely, of course) in order
to simplify and balance your days. By the way, saying no may also include reducing and/or
curtailing activities in which you/your family are already involved.
3-Make a Personal Plan
Now, there are bazillions of planning strategies out there, whether you work inside or outside the
home, or both! I’ve tried different methods at different times. Nothing has really stuck except a
very simple plan I’ve crafted for myself.
I’ll briefly describe my method for you (and feel free to use it!), but it may be best for you to
sit down, brainstorm a bit, and design your own. Remember, BASIC, SIMPLE, EASY are the
watchwords here. If it’s not, you won’t remember/follow it!
Laurie’s BALANCED DAYS include:
Everyday chores, Weekly cleaning and Errands/activities outside the home.
Everyday: I try to do devotion, laundry, dishes, exercise, water, meds, blog maintenance, and cleaning concentration (see below) daily.
Weekly Cleaning: Each day, I focus on a certain room/area of my home and I deep-clean it. Whatever I don’t get done that day, I pick it back up a week
later when that room rotates around again. I also meal plan for the week’s dinners every Sunday afternoon.
Errands/Activities: I plan errands around the activities I have scheduled each week so I’m not running around needlessly every day. Just takes a few
minutes on Sunday afternoon to outline a basic plan.
And, that’s it.
My strategies are very basic, but I have found it to be an effective framework
around which I can structure my time.
I hope these three steps to achieving balance in homemaking are helpful for you. And I wish you
many blessings and much success in all you do!
Happiness is not a matter of intensity but of balance and order and rhythm and
harmony. Thomas Merton
Laurie, the wife and mom who’s always busy tidying up the Scene of the Grime (my blog and my home!).
Little Brick Ranch
April 6, 2011 at 9:41 pmSuch a great post…I love “When no means Yes” That is so true!! Thanks for sharing this!! 🙂
Marianne
April 6, 2011 at 1:33 pmI am right there with you. This week especially with having my husband home all week he has been commenting on how I am letting more things go no. Before I had to have everything clean and picked up at all time. Now I can let it go more because my kids need me. Having a child with a cronic illness no matter how mild it is, is lifechanging. Of course my husband can’t let it go now and is freaking out about everything that isn’t getting done in our house right now. Oh well, I will appease him and do some 10 minute cleanings in each room, that should make him happy.
Also once a month I make a meal plan and 4 shoppinglists, every Sunday I makeover my google calendar print it out and keep it on my board, my kids are only allowed to extracurricular activities at the time, and cleaning gets done eventually.