When things get crazy: Just don't do it.

I met a woman recently who told me that she heard me speak years ago. And now, when she starts to get overloaded, she scratches about 20 things off her to-do list. 

Neither one of us could remember exactly when I gave that talk, the one that inspired her to non-action in times of stress. But in that moment, I asked myself, am I walking my talk? Do I remember to take my own advice?

When things get too crazy, just don't do it. (Tweet that!)

You don't have to do it. 

You don't have to do all of it. 

Yesterday, I felt myself rushing around, feeling stressed. The kids will get out of school on Friday. Family is coming this weekend. Friday feels like a deadline.

I'm great at working deadlines. But yesterday, I felt like a holiday cliche. Stuck in traffic and grouchy.

No. 

I didn't intend for this to happen. I never intend for this to happen. I have to remind myself that getting overloaded doesn't mean I'm doing life wrong. We're not doing life wrong. There are always a million things coming at us all the time. Things we feel like we should do, things people ask us to do, things we need to do, things we want to do, things we do out of habit. 

Each day, each moment, we have a chance to reset the filter. 

So yesterday, when the kids got home from school, I told them to put on their pajamas. They thought that was great. They played upstairs for a while, then we worked on homework, and later there was a moment of temporary but relaxing snuggling on the couch.

The downtime gave me fuel to wake up today and get moving and not curl up in a ball on the floor. 

The first thing I did was reschedule some things, and delete some things. Honestly? I felt a bit disappointed. There were a lot of "I want to-dos" on the list. Just because a to-do becomes a "not right now"or "not ever" doesn't mean it doesn't hold some level of importance or meaning. That brings me comfort, that I'm overloaded with good things. It lets me shift to a place of gratitude and make choices out of love, not obligation or desperation. 

Wow. I just blew my own mind. I need to re-read that and let that thought sit for a while. 

What about you? As the year draws to a close, what will you do and not do? How will you make time to be?

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