Choosing the Best

Now that the hustle and bustle of the holidays has passed, we face another year, often with a bit of ambiguity. You may be a devout “resolution” person, or maybe here in early January you have already fallen off the resolution wagon. Its ok, you’re not alone. None of us are exactly alike, with exactly the same circumstances, but we do have a few things in common.

First of all, there are only 24 hours in a day, no matter who you are. While there are some things you can’t completely control, you do have control over the majority of your time. Don’t put so many things, appointments, and projects into your planner that you become burdened down and start to drown in a sea of “never enough” time. Weigh each opportunity to see if it’s really worthy of the time you’ll be putting into it. Allow white space in your life.

Second, you only have so much of you to go around. Now this may seem like it goes with time management, but I’m talking about your energy here. There are some things that energize you, there are some that drain you and make you crabby. Know yourself well enough to know if you’re depleting who you are on things. Just because you have time in the schedule doesn’t mean you can afford the drain on you physically and mentally. I can work an 8-10 hour day of hard, physical labor and feel great…having a group of people over to the house for 2-3 hours wears me out and takes longer for me to get over.

Third, it’s okay to set boundaries and enforce them. Now, I’m not saying be snarky whenever someone asks you to do something, but realize that “No” is a complete sentence, and it doesn’t need an explanation. Be true to what you know you are supposed to do, what you can do, and the resources you know you have available.

Last, take care of your physical body. That doesn’t mean you have to spend crazy amounts of time at the gym. It does mean eat healthy foods in moderation. Move your body, even if it’s only walking down to the end of your block a time or two. Rest. Rest doesn’t necessarily mean sleep; sometimes it means sitting down with a cup of tea and a book and just breathing…but do get enough sleep too (you’ll thank me).

Here’s to a balanced year!!

Joesette Huffman is a dynamic speaker, blogger, wife and homeschooling mother of two. She is is active both in the online homeschooling world and in her local homeschool community and church, as well as a volleyball coach and co-op leader. You can find her weekly at Learning Curve.