With the holidays coming, I decided to take an enforced internet break and enjoy my time off. I had plans to then come back fresh and ready to rock and roll for the new year……..and then my plans got a little sidetracked. I admit, it’s been nice to know I haven’t been forgotten when I got inquiries from people wondering where I’ve been, is there a new blog post coming soon, and where are the new photos but it made me feel so bad to say “Not yet, it will have to wait”. So what the heck happened? Life happened. I mean LITERALLY life happened. My husband and I are having our first baby in August and these last few months until now have been a “take it one day at a time” experience where I am learning the superhuman I usually try to be has been taken over by an alien and my body is no longer my own to command.
Photo 1 of the 2 I edited in 3 months
So, I had to make some choices which included not blogging, doing social media, or editing photos. Well, that’s a lie because I did manage to get two solid weeks of Facebook done and even edited two photos (working at lightning speed these days, I tell ya). I had to choose because I have a full time job and run my photography business after hours and many of those after work hours have now been filled with me learning every day is a new day physically. I sometimes have to decide between doing the dishes and tidying the living room because I can’t seem to do both. Or either one at all.
It’s really not so terrible being forced into prioritizing my time. When things like this happen in life, you figure out what’s important and what can just slide on by. My schedule before was quite rigid with expectations and I didn’t cut myself much slack. Now, anything goes honestly. Sounds like I may be already prepping myself for survival with a kid, right? Yes, I know I have ZERO idea of how it will be and before anyone lamely gives me one of those sarcastic congratulations welcoming me to your club of Joker-smile-like-misery, I’ve heard enough of that. FYI – the “Your life is over” jokes are not funny. Keep that shizz to yourself. I prefer the loving kindness and excitement, please.
Photo 2 of the 2 I edited in 3 months
Another positive of this baby-imposed prioritizing? I decided to mute the people who seem to have a lot of rules. They were really exhausting me. The “you should” and the “you must” people got chucked out of my inbox and Facebook pretty quickly. Rules shmules. With my limited “feeling well enough” time, I need to do what makes me happy. That means slowing down, enjoying things more, smelling the roses, and whatever other happiness in the moment clichés there are out there.
I am terribly grateful because usually it’s when people receive terrible life altering sad news they decide to make these kinds of changes. Mine is the opposite. I was forced into reprioritizing because a new human is coming into my world and times they are-a-changing.
What have I been doing? Business-wise I have still been assisting customers and fulfilling orders. Personally, when I am not rearranging and organizing my entire house to make it ready for a human who will not notice at all (and then having to get the death stare from hubby when he discovers I moved a dresser by myself), I have been reading a ton of books. I find sitting down and reading doesn’t make me feel sick so it’s been a good way to pass the time. I’ve read 16 books so far in 2016 (out of my goal of 50 for this year).
Photo I edited specifically for this blog post. Highly productive night.
So, let me leave you with a challenge today. Without having to go through a massive life change to motivate you, what steps could you take to reprioritize your life? What’s that thing that’s been nagging you with guilt (like thinking you should call your friends more) or a secret desire (like learning a new language) but you keep saying to yourself it isn’t happening because there isn’t enough time? Whatever you thought of, it sounds like you need to find a way to make the time. Even if that includes dropping all the “busyness” that makes you feel important (yes, many of us are addicted to how being busy makes our ego feel massaged but that’s a topic for a different time). Try it for a week. It will feel good, I promise. I had to learn to give myself a break and let my naturally overachieving obsessive personality take a breather (but it still pokes out when I decide to not wait for my husband and do several hours of yard work and then regret it for 2 days – I’m not perfect).
