Whoops, it's been a while since I've blogged! It's the busyness of summer...summer gets loaded with so much 'stuff', and before you know it, it's over. It seems like every weekend gets booked with work, family get-togethers, plans with friends, church activities, and if you're lucky, a chance to do some of those tasks around the house that need to get done. After all that though, there's barely any time for you and your family.
So how do you stop and smell the roses in such a busy season?
1) Stop. It's as 'simple' as that. Notice how simple is in brackets? I realize this is a difficult thing to do. But sometimes we just need to stop everything we're doing and take a breath (or 10), and smile at the blessings around us.
2) Deliberately schedule time to rest. This can also be a tough one. When there are so many things on the to-do list, it's hard to schedule time to not do anything. This may lead to an inner battle, where you'll be fighting to tell yourself that you are not wasting time in those moments. But rest assured, you are not. You are giving your mind and your body some much needed rest.
3) Enjoy the small things. Not everything has to be big for us to enjoy it. We don't have to go on a road trip every weekend. We don't have to make it to every out of town family gathering. Some things on the to-do list can wait a few months. An hour at home or at the park with the family can be better than driving two hours to get somewhere 'fun'.
4) Don't forget about God. When life gets busy, what's the first thing that gets dropped to make room for everything else? Let's not sugar-coat it, for a lot of us, it's our devotions. But when you're doing 'busy' without God, that's a recipe for disaster, stress, fatigue, and the classic 'grass is greener' syndrome, to name a few.
There are lots of other tips, but we're already busy enough without trying to remember 15 different things. Pick one or two of these, try them out, and see how you feel.
Now to put it into practice myself...wow, those roses outside my window really are quite pretty...
So how do you stop and smell the roses in such a busy season?
1) Stop. It's as 'simple' as that. Notice how simple is in brackets? I realize this is a difficult thing to do. But sometimes we just need to stop everything we're doing and take a breath (or 10), and smile at the blessings around us.
2) Deliberately schedule time to rest. This can also be a tough one. When there are so many things on the to-do list, it's hard to schedule time to not do anything. This may lead to an inner battle, where you'll be fighting to tell yourself that you are not wasting time in those moments. But rest assured, you are not. You are giving your mind and your body some much needed rest.
3) Enjoy the small things. Not everything has to be big for us to enjoy it. We don't have to go on a road trip every weekend. We don't have to make it to every out of town family gathering. Some things on the to-do list can wait a few months. An hour at home or at the park with the family can be better than driving two hours to get somewhere 'fun'.
4) Don't forget about God. When life gets busy, what's the first thing that gets dropped to make room for everything else? Let's not sugar-coat it, for a lot of us, it's our devotions. But when you're doing 'busy' without God, that's a recipe for disaster, stress, fatigue, and the classic 'grass is greener' syndrome, to name a few.
There are lots of other tips, but we're already busy enough without trying to remember 15 different things. Pick one or two of these, try them out, and see how you feel.
Now to put it into practice myself...wow, those roses outside my window really are quite pretty...
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