Balance

This month I am going to be focusing on the home and all of our responsibilities there in. The first topic I have chose is balance. As being a mother and a wife we have so many things tugging at us. As a mother/wife/women we are a person of many hats. At times it may be difficult to find the balance between all of these things.

Some of the different responsibilities we may have are that of being a wife, mother, church callings, service and humanitarian work, community responsibilities, employment, hobbies and interests, these are just to name a few. How do we juggle all of these responsibilities and find balance? Here are some suggestions:

Organize, if we are organized in our life, then it will run more smoothly. I have found that if I have a place for everything and put them where they belong, then things do not accumulate and it takes less time. Also if we organize our time, not spending too much time on one thing, then we will find that we have time for all of the responsibilities that we have. An example of this is setting up a routine for the day. It could be as simple as setting limits on the amount of time you are going to spend on each duty or as structured as saying from this time to this time I will be doing this. I have found that making a schedule of my housekeeping duties has helped out a lot.

Do Not Procrastinate!!! I came up with this little saying, "I always feel like times a wasting, when I start procrastinating." Procrastination is really the worst thing for keeping balance in our lives. Just little things can save us so much time. I was looking one day in my kitchen about to attack the mess and I started thinking, if everything would have just been put away right after we were done with them, then I would not have to be spending even more time cleaning everything up. If we procrastinate then instead of just getting our stuff done and doing it right, then it gets left until the last minute and gets jammed into our already busy schedule and does not receive the time it needs to be done correctly.

Simplify. Sometimes we get too involved with making things extravagant. We all have such a desire for perfection that sometimes it leads to us making things more difficult than they should be. It is great to want things to be done correctly and for things to look good, but there comes a time when things just go "over-the-top". Also do we need to have our children in every activity or can we pick and choose a couple. Do we need to start a bunch of projects and not finish any, or can we focus on one at a time finish it and then go on? (I am guilty of this.) So if we just would simplify out lives, then it would cut down on our time spent.

Delegate. We do not have to do it all, all by ourselves. I know that I like to do things because I do them the way I want them done. Sometimes though we need to try to allow others to have opportunities too.

In the November 2006 Ensign, Elder Ballard in the article O Be Wise says, "The key, it seems to me, is to know and understand your own capabilities and limitations and then to pace yourself, allocating and prioritizing your time, your attention, and your resources..." If we will follow his instruction then I believe we will find balance in our lives and will be able to juggle all of our many responsibilities.