Life.
Is.
So.
Busy.
I always think it is only going to be busy for a season, usually a literal sports season, and then slow down. But something else fills it's place, or I fill it's place with something else, and we're running ragged constantly. The past two days have been especially rough between social and volunteer events, a case of strep which involved two hours at Urgent Care, a couple big projects due for my kids, etc. It's overwhelming, really, parenting seven kids and working full-time so that you're trying to cram everything that needs to be done into the few hours at the end of each day. If I focus on how hard this journey can be, I will wind up crying in bed with a bag of chocolates, so instead I'm gonna focus on the positives!
You've heard that love is a choice and not a feeling, and I think happiness is a choice as well. An attitude of gratitude will get you far in life :) If I can't handle the daily busyness in life, how on earth am I ever going to handle the bad times? I think about that often. (Grace is the answer, and we only get it when we need it). Besides, as Kathleen reminded us, most of our busy activities revolve around GOOD things!
Volunteering at my kid's school = an opportunity to serve an institution that serves my kids daily
Strep throat = my son will be healed in two days
Packing to visit family = vacation time! No work! No school!
Helping my children finish their school projects = teaching moments, bonding time, penance for me ;)
I'm reading The Happiness Project because I like to read best sellers years after everybody else. I'm only on the second chapter, but her first sentence in the book made me go AHA!
"I'd always vaguely expected to outgrow my limitations."
Isn't that so true? We act a certain way, thinking one day we will just be better. One day I'll start exercising. One day I'll stop eating chocolate at 9 pm. One day I won't yell at my kids as much. But unless we actually try and change the behaviors, how are we really going to change the outcomes? How are we going to be what we want without changing what we do? So if I want to be happier, be more grateful, be the kind of person people see and secretly wonder why I'm always so joyful...then I need to take steps to get there.
As Aaron Burr said to Alexander Hamilton:
Talk Less, Smile More.
I once had a priest tell me in the confessional that I should make a sign of the cross on my lips when I feel the urge to complain, gossip, or speak ill of someone. It's a good reminder to just take a breath, smile, and check yourself before you wreck yourself. (Also, go to confession where grace and joy are there for the taking.)
Happiness is a choice and I want to choose it daily and infect everybody around me. Life is good. God is good. It's ALLLLLLL good!
That priest is a genius! I would be crossing my lips all day long! Thinking maybe I should just get a wooden one and glue it on!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, I always remember after I've opened my mouth!
DeleteI don't know how you do it! I'm a new reader, and I'm in a completely different boat. Yet I also feel I have no time. I'm 24 and working a full-time job. I live on my own 45 minutes from my family and 30 minutes from my fiance. We're trying to plan our wedding. I also (naively) signed up to do a charity dance competition for my work. So between planning, visiting family, cooking and cleaning, dance practice, etc, I feel like I have hardly any time to do the things I want to do. My big goal is to write a book (I was a Creative Writing major in school). I'm also thinking of starting a new blog. Everyone tells me that after the wedding, things will get less hectic. I'm not sure I believe them!
ReplyDeleteYou are in a busy time of life! I think things should settle down for you after the wedding, but you just need to schedule in time to do the things you want or they will never happen ;)
DeleteA good reminder, indeed. I like that, making the sign of the cross on my lips. I will need this every day! :)
ReplyDeleteI should just wake up and do it! Ha!
DeleteLife can be good but hard at the same time. You'd expect the hard part to be when things are going wrong. But busy schedules, so many demands on your time (for good reasons!), so many people to keep fed and clothed and moving - it's overwhelming at time. and you try to keep your head above water, ,not to let the stress get you....My only saving grace right now is that none of my kids do a spring sport. (Just the play, the choir, the band, ...)
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interesting reflection.
Same with the spring sports - we do track, but it's barely a commitment - it's so nice to have an easy season like that!
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