What needs to fall away?
This photo is from my backyard. For this desert girl, the Fall leaves have been a treat. The colors are so fabulous and now I totally understand why people decorate with oranges, yellows, and browns for Fall. Who knew that they actually made sense???
For the last several weeks this tree has been FULL of leaves but now we are down to just a few remnants. I remarked to my husband how sad I was going to be to see them go. They have become my little friends. He said, “They will always be back next year.” I was a bit annoyed by that comment at first but then it hit me that he is right. They will be back next year but in order for that to happen, they have to fall away this year so that they can experience new fullness this summer.
This last week I felt like a tree shedding her Fall leaves. I was letting go of things left and right so that I could make room for new growth. I told you I am walking this balance series with you and it has been good and hard.
I spent all of last week giving up and walking away from things so that I could bring the places that felt out of balance in balance. It was my personal to-do list that had become overly full and was causing things to not feel steady. I was grumpy and whining because there was “never enough time” to get it all done. My husband bluntly declared “why don’t you just make time!” He doesn’t mince words. At first, I got defensive and thought that was impossible. Everything I do is soooooooooooooooooo important (yes, please hear the sarcasm) how could I give anything up? But, he really challenged me to look at my lists and divide up what fell into the must do vs. want to do.
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Here is how it played out in reality.
I gave up: social media, creating social media graphics, my class offerings, working at night, turning my front living room upside down to film and saying “yes!” to anything new.
What I was able to do instead: clean all the toilets, deep clean the floors, linger longer in my devotional time, play with art, snuggle with my kids at night, go to the grocery store, invite people over for dinner, think about the holidays, schedule all needed doctors appointments, respond to outstanding personal emails, have at least one cup of hot tea a day and clean out my closet.
Is there more to do? You bet! There will always be more but the point was getting my personal list in balance with my other lists so that I feel steady and not weighed down by this looming list. I needed to stop letting my personal Trello list drive my feelings and emotions in the day. I have a few more days that I want to spend on it and then I feel confident I can go back to regular everyday routines as long as I keep checking in that things don’t get out of balance again.
What are your current needs vs wants?
*I needed to schedule doctors appointments. I needed to be present at night with my family. I needed to slow down and not play victim to my growing to-do lists.
What is it that you need to let fall away in order to be able to meet those needs?
Catch up on the whole series. Balance. What is it and how do we get it?
