Life is a juggling act.

I seriously think that, in high school there should be some new required classes. Here are my suggestions...juggling, stress management, budgeting and yoga.
We would all benefit greatly from all of these!
Multi-tasking is one way of describing what parents do everyday. But, I like to call it juggling. And guaranteed, I'm gonna drop the ball with something everyday. If I sit back and think about all of my responsibilities, wants, desires, needs and "don't wanna's", I get a headache. I have so much to do and so little time to do it. Between, exercising, housework, school work, kid time, husband time, me time, cooking, laundry, shopping, planning, errands, callings, volunteering, etc...I am exhausted before I even start. And, this is just the "simple" life of a stay-at-home mom. I can't imagine having to work part-time or full-time in addition to all this.
As stressful as it is...I love it! The hardest part is prioritizing. How much time do I need for each thing? How can I divide my time, so that everything gets the attention it needs? Honestly, there is no way of answering those questions. Because, there is no exact formula...each day is different and all needs change. Some days my kids will need me more, some days my husband will need me more and some days I just need some time alone. The trick is, learning to forgive myself when I drop the ball, and then being able to put it back into the juggling act for tomorrow.
I am not perfect...far from it...but I try my best and that's all I can do. I constantly have to keep myself in check and remember what's important. Somedays I am better at juggling than others. On the not so good days, I just take a step back and look at the whole picture and if I see that I have happy kids, a happy husband and a happy me...then all is good. Granted the house may be a mess, but eventually that ball won't get dropped. You know what, maybe I should just give that ball to the kids! :) Wouldn't that be nice!
Juggling is actually kinda fun once you get your rhythm down. In high school P.E., I had a juggling lesson and we used scarves instead of balls which was much easier. The scarves would just float through the air making it easier to maintain the motion, where as a ball would drop faster. So, in order to apply this to my everyday life, I think of my tasks as "scarves". The more complicated I make each task, the heavier "the scarf" gets and the faster it will drop. If I don't put so much pressure on myself it will make it a lot easier to juggle.
K.I.S.S. Keep it simple stupid! Right? Isn't that my new motto?
Anyway, another successful week...I lost 1.6 lbs which brings my total to 9.8 lbs in 2 weeks and I have been exercising every weekday. I didn't do so good with meal planning or prepping, but those are tasks I tend to make more complicated so they end up getting dropped faster. So, this week I will follow my own advice and simplify. :)