I Am Saying Yes To The Best: Are You?

I am a very routine person and so the lazy, crazy days of summer–although I enjoy them–really start to wear me out.  There is very little routine within them, especially this summer. With all the rain my family has become a group of sun chasers. The minute the sun is out we drop the rainy plans we had for the day and do something summery.

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All the last minute upheaval of plans has left me weary even though I started this summer with what I thought was a great attitude. I told my running buddy before summer began “this year I am not making a ‘going to get all this done since I don’t have to homeschool‘ list”.

You see, every year I usually make a list as long as my arm of all the things I am going to get done now with all those hours I spend homeschooling. Problem is I forget that my children, although teenagers, still require my attention and truthfully their homeschooling doesn’t take that much of my day now that they are older so these last few summers I have had less time to work in the summer–not more.

Yet even though I let go of getting anything “extra” done, letting go of my routine has left me weary. And even though I cut my blogging back to 3 days a week instead of 5 to make room for summer fun  I am currently writing this post mere hours before it should be published because it is the first time all week I have been able to sit and write. That is not like me at all! I am normally done with a post several days (if not weeks) ahead of time.

I had a mini panic attack about it yesterday when 7 pm came and went and the computer needed to be closed for the day so that I could wind down and get a good night’s rest (burning the midnight oil never works for me; I am better at catching the worm of productivity in the early morning hours).

I felt like I was slipping down a muddy slope with no hope of ever getting back on track. I was spewing all I needed to get done to my hubby–because you know listing off all your stress a few short hours  before bed really helps you get to bed early so you can rise early and work {NOT}–when I realized two things: I had created a summer to do list after all, and my return to routine is coming.

I might not have written out a “summer to do list” but I had added to my normal blogging workload by hiring a blogging coach for 3 sessions this spring and then trying to work my way through all the great ideas she had for my blog, its readership, and its growth.

I had changed doing just 3 blog posts a week to have more time for family fun this summer to doing 3 blog posts a week to have more time to grow my blog.

My running partner {one smart cookie, that gal} reminded me my blog is named Snail Pace Transformations for a reason, it is because of my desire to always put my family first and my work second. This means that my business {my blog} will grow at a slower rate than most but I truly believe that being family centered is how God has asked me to live and by doing so I will look back with no regrets.

I also have to put things in perspective. The floodgate of summer fun is closing. My middle son Aiden begins his soccer season  this week, with 2 hour practices each morning for 6 days, the following week he has practice from 9 am to 3 pm for 6 days, and the week after that both he and his sister Courtney will be attending a small private Christian school 2 days a week and homeschooled by me 3 days a week for the upcoming 2015/2016 school year.

Our time to chase summer is ending and my beloved routine will soon return…and yet…I am not 100% happy about it like I thought I would be. I look at all the photos of our summer and part of me is weeping inside. How did my children get so big? How did summer go by so fast? How is it that there are just 4 more summers until my youngest child graduates?

So now that I am looking at my to do list with fresh eyes I can say I have no regrets about work still left to do, panic you are not going to win, I said yes to the best!

How about you? Are you saying yes to the things you value most? Or are you letting your “to do’s” get the best of you?

psst…I just started reading The Best Yes by Lysa Terkeurst last night and I can tell already that this book is going to help refocus  me to say yes to “the most important things in life”, say no to the “important but not as important” things in life and let go of guilt caused by saying no.

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