At the end of last year, I had all my ducks in a row to start anew.
Work-outs, meal planning, a crisp new gold-dotted agenda book brimming with big plans and bold new goals that I was busting at the seams about– Oh, yeah! It was on like Donkey Kong!
2015 was going to start off without a hitch!
Until it didn’t.
Our 14 month old, it seemed, had made a resolution of his own…. to give up sleep {cause I mean, Psft! Sleep is for BABIES!.. Right?}
And sleep (or lack there of) as we know… GAME CHANGER.
After a few days of running after a crazy, cranky toddler on 3 hours of broken sleep, I could not muster up the energy for the early morning work outs anymore.
Meal planning– Felt like SO. MUCH. WORK.
My super-fab agenda book & big plans? Stressed. me. out.
I had entered survival mode and my brain felt like mush.
I found myself hyper-focusing on what wasn’t being accomplishing (namely, sleep).
If only I had 2 more hours in my day… just TWO… ok, maybe THREE.
And a Nanny. A Nanny would be dreamy.
NO BUENO, My friends. NO. BUENO.
I tell you this because even the most passionate of Mamas can get caught in a rut.
Plans go a bit off course, and it is easy to let the overwhelm of life swallow us whole and convince us to throw a big ol’ pity party.
But I am here, coming up for air, telling you that just as tantrums don’t get toddler’s very far, they will never get us far either.
In these moments of overwhelm, we need to Dig deep, Re-focus & Take Action.
I could have continued my pity party, which let me be honest– I had gotten into the habit of throwing myself every freakin’ morning.
But instead, I decided it was time to leave the party.
And just like that.
I let it go {Let it goooooo!}– all of it. I shelved all of the things I was beating myself up about and began to seek smaller more mindless goals that I could accomplish…. like a nap.
And when I woke up and looked around the house, you know what I saw? CLUT-TER.
My house had literally started to look exactly like my brain felt.
My friend Amy at Teach Mama had started a new series #LiveFocused. January was all about Organization. So I decided to hop on board.
Even though housework is typically something I like to put LAST on my to-do list, I bumped it up to the top for a change and started to work on the central hub of our home, the kitchen.
And when it was all done, I stood in the kitchen and just stared… at gorgeous, clutter-free, glistening counter tops…
and then I took pictures for instagram…obviously…
Because I mean, my plasticware all have matching tops, you guys! –Holla!!
I did that.
Yes! I *DID* that.
It wasn’t what I had been most excited about doing, but it made me felt accomplished and renewed.
Clarity returned and I began pecking away on this keyboard to tell you that the next time you find yourself running low on bandwidth for whatever the reason– allow yourself to just STOP. Let it go. And set yourself a smaller – perhaps completely opposite – totally attainable goal to restart that fire inside.
[Tweet “Running low on bandwidth? STOP. Let It Go & Set A Small Goal to restart the fire.”]
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Want to know more about Amy’s incredible 12 month series focused on living with intention one small step at a time? Of course you do!
Get the details here & feel free to share your humble brags of glistening countertops and drop dead gorgeous looking closets on Instagram with the hashtag #LiveFocused!
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Oh I get this so much! I am really really good about making all these great plans and then when one tiny little thing throws me off I abandon it. This year though I am NOT going to do that. Because life is always going to be messing with my nicely planned out plans. :)
Your kitchen is gorgeous by the way!
Thanks Anna! *High Fives* for not abandoning plans when life throws us curveballs!
I love this. I tend to get easily overwhelmed by big, scary goals... so starting small works for me.
Thanks, Susan! I find sometimes those small goals are powerful for reaching those big goals.
You're a Libra also, right? Because this is such a Libra thing! LOL One thing throws us off and we are just a mess, it's so true that it's the small things we need to help us get back on track and fell like we got this!