Hi all, Lynette Eason here. Welcome to Thursday. It should say, Welcome to Wednesday, but well... I missed posting yesterday. Sigh. But anyway, let's jump right in to what I thought I'd share with you today.
I just read two blog posts this morning. One about living adventurously. I laughed. I truly do not need anymore adventure in my life. And one about cleaning the clutter out of our lives. I didn’t laugh so much at this one. This one kind of hit home. Because the author talked about the fact that you have to clean out before you can add. Meaning, if you want to say yes to something else, you need to get rid of something first. This is so true. I find myself saying yes to more and more, but the problem is I’m not getting rid of anything. This leads me to feeling quite overwhelmed and well—cluttered. There’s always too much to do and never enough time to do it all. When I’m working on A, B and C – D, E, and F get neglected. I don’t like that.
I just read two blog posts this morning. One about living adventurously. I laughed. I truly do not need anymore adventure in my life. And one about cleaning the clutter out of our lives. I didn’t laugh so much at this one. This one kind of hit home. Because the author talked about the fact that you have to clean out before you can add. Meaning, if you want to say yes to something else, you need to get rid of something first. This is so true. I find myself saying yes to more and more, but the problem is I’m not getting rid of anything. This leads me to feeling quite overwhelmed and well—cluttered. There’s always too much to do and never enough time to do it all. When I’m working on A, B and C – D, E, and F get neglected. I don’t like that.
So, what’s a girl to do? I started looking at my schedule.
Homeshool starts in August. Just one kid, though, thank goodness. I have a book
due September 1, another book due on October 1, and a new proposal due on
October 5th. I leave on the July 7th for vacation until
the 12th, have two speaking engagements on the the 13th and
15th, then leave for a conference on the 17th until the
21st. On the 21st, I fly to the Dominican Republic until
the 27th. I have one conference in August, two in September, and one
in October. And I’m supposed to write these books during all of them. I’m
already hyperventilating. PLUS, I’m thinking about starting a new business.
Okay. As I look at this craziness, I think, “What do I get
rid of? How do I clean out some of the clutter?” And I realize. I can’t. Not
only that, but I don’t want to. Apparently, I like schedules like this. I
thrive on schedules like this. I appreciate the down time, I don’t necessarily
like fighting for the writing time or forgetting things like when it's my turn to post on a group blog, but I absolutely LOVE the travel and the
craziness being a write comes with. However, adding homeschool into the chaos might tip the scales a
bit. The writing time is rather abundant right now. I don’t usually have a hard
time finding it. Using it wisely is another topic for discussion. We won’t go
into that now. But very shortly, writing time is going to be a scarce
commodity. And I have deadlines.
What about you? How do you find time to do the things you
have to do? And want to do with neglecting the things that are also priorities – family, God, friends,
down time, haircuts, grocery shopping…lol. You get the idea.
What's a girl to do?
Dear Lynette
ReplyDeleteWhen my books come in, I always scan through looking for Lynette Eason. I know your books promise to be a great read. Your talent is a gift from God and I know as long as you keep putting Him first, your twenty-four hours will be enough to do the things you feel lead to commit to. Keep up the good work. So what if someone's hair gets a little longer than normal or your grocery shelves get a little skimpy...you'll take care of that at the right time. :) God bless you!
Deborah
www.author-deborahlynne.com
Well, Lynette, you've one-upped me on the busy schedule thing. No doubt about that, girl! How do you do it?!?!
ReplyDeleteMy clutter is actual clutter, as in stuff. Every time I look through it, though, it all seems very necessary. It's probably a mindset thing, and I'm just not at the point to change it yet.
Making God, family and tutoring my top three priorities is so important to me because those are the three must-haves in my life right now. (The only one that might change in the future is tutoring.) Writing is a very close fourth, with friends tagging along behind it. Besides all that, housework gets squeezed in wherever it fits, as does grocery shopping. God is good; everything has a time and place.
Since God is top dog in the priority house, my family followed His call and helped a stranded college student get home to Houston -- six hours away from our house! Talk about messing up the schedule!!!! Of course, I wouldn't change a moment of that spur-of-the-moment road trip or meeting this new friend and her family. I was more than happy to postpone washing my dishes and doing a couple loads of laundry... too happy, probably. But, both our families were blessed for the experience, and I count it as one of the best weekends of the year so far.
Lynette, may God bless you with using your writing time wisely. I know you'll make those deadlines and figure out a way to enjoy everything packed into your schedule.
Blessings,
Andrea
You know Lynette, it amazes me day after day, when God is in the picture, how much I can accomplish in any given twenty-four hour period. I encourage you to ask him at the start of each day, what you should do first. Then do that before anything else.
ReplyDeleteI don't want to sound preachy because I am also an example of how a good twenty-four hour period can be whittled away, nothing being accomplished because I get distracted or focused on some self-absorbed activity. And, if I depend solely on myself to finish a goal I sit overwhelmed having nothing done.
So I encourage you to follow my first example and see how God will not only help you through your dizzying schedule but how much more he will accomplish through you. Here's to victory...God's victory in your life and schedule.