Balance

Recently, I posted the question “I honestly want to know how other working mothers/wives find balance, with handling children, work, school if applicable, bills, household upkeep, friends, "me time" etc!” on Facebook.  I received many responses that all seemed as “when you figure it out let me know!”.  Too many of us, are spreading ourselves too thin and as a result we get overwhelmed, tired, irritable and just no good!  Going back to my original question, I realized that there are just some things that cannot be ignored and/or put to the side, i.e. kids and work.  But I still needed to find a way to find balance in my life.  Therefore, I compiled a list of the 5 most important things in my life (in no particular order) that HAD to be done.  My list consisted of 1) home/family (children & spouse), 2) work, 3) schoolwork, 4) prayer/devotion/worship, 5) I drew blank on number 5.  This made me realize that numbers 1-4 pretty much kept me occupied and I was making room for 5, which almost never consisted of doing something strictly for me.  I also realized that in order for me to maintain balance, I had to put ME in slot 5.  I had to learn that it is ok to say NO to everyone/everything else.  Many times, I have inconvenienced myself to convenience others.  Now there is nothing wrong with being nice, helpful or a friend, but if you are run down, burnt out and overstretched, it’s nothing wrong with a friend being a friend to you, by being helpful and nice by understanding that you are TIRED AND ALREADY STRETCHED TO THE MAX.  However, you cannot wait on someone else to realize your reality so you have to be the one to make a stand for your sanity.  The moral of this story is, I must take care of all of my required responsibilities first and I must include ME in that.  Everything and Everyone else will just have to understand.