Are You Too Busy?
As I was recording this week's podcast a few weeks back, I was reading through the cards that people gave us full of marriage advice on our wedding day. I read them live so I didn't pre-pick any and when I came across this one, it stopped me in my tracks.
“Don't get too busy making a living that you don't live a life.”
I had one of those moments where I had to stop and really think about how I'm living my life and if I'm really living up to this one or not.
Since starting work again at six weeks postpartum, I've gone through a lot of changes. Right now I'm not as focused on making money as I am focused on making an impact and building a brand. I'm getting back to the nitty gritty of my voice and thankfully God has blessed Dustin's job to be able to allow me to take this time right now. For the first time in a long time I haven't been relying on my income and it's been refreshing to say the least.
But even then, I had to think about if I was applying this to my life or not.
I started thinking about how many nights I work late into the night and it not only exhausts me to the point where I'm not super present with my family, but it starts to become burdensome and a chore.
I've had odd jobs since I started babysitting around 10 years old and I started my first official payroll job at 14. I've never not worked and honestly, I don't want to stop. I enjoy working and I'm at the point where I can work on projects that I actually enjoy. My goal is to eventually make a living out of my life's work, but if all I ever do is work to help others and inspire them, I know God's going to provide for me and I've done my job well, to the best of my abilities.
But that also means listening to my convictions on when and how much to work. I don't want to miss the moments I get to have with Hayden. I don't want to miss him growing up and I don't want to miss these years with Dustin either. I don't want to look back and not remember what it felt like to be young.
So I've been working on not working as much. It's kind of silly but I've setting goals for myself and only allowing myself to do so much in a day. I can be a workaholic and “2 more minutes” often turns into 2 more hours. It's not healthy. So I have to set boundaries and not allow myself to start chipping into tomorrow's to-do list. If I'm not done with work by the time we have family time at night, it carries over to the next day's list. I've been working on keeping my computer out of the bedroom at night and allowing myself to truly rest and go to bed when the rest of my family does.
It's hard to break the habits that I've had for years, but I'm determined to make that advice a part of my life.
A living is not more important than living my life with my family because I could have all the money in the world but if I don't have my family and I don't spend the time with them that I've been blessed with, it would all be for nothing. You can't take your money with you, but you can take your family, so you have to make the most of them.
I encourage you to evaluate you how much time you're letting your work chip into your family time. Set one goal for yourself this week and stick to it. Whether it's shutting the computer before dinner and not opening it until the next day or turning off your phone for family time- I promise you can do it. The emails, texts and projects can wait until the next day.