Check Yes or No

My life has been crazy for the last little while. The kind of crazy where it feels as if I'm running from one thing to the next with barely any time to catch my breath in between. The kind of crazy where I wonder if I can continue at this pace or if I'm going to break. The kind of crazy where I find myself loading an enormous bag of popcorn in the back of my car at 9:30 at night. All the crazy is my fault because I'm running around doing things that I volunteered to do. 

Why yes, that is a plastic bag of nacho cheese next to the giant trash bag of popcorn!
You see, I've never been very good at saying no. I think it's partly because I truly do have a desire to help others and partly because I really want people to like me but I worry they won't if I'm not of use to them. So I say yes. Yes to bringing food to a potluck, yes to substituting a church class, yes to watching your kids, yes to being PTO President, and yes to helping run concessions for the high school's events (that's where the popcorn is headed). But all those yes's lead to no's. Mostly it's no to things I want to do like nap, exercise, and sew but it's also become no to ward activities, no to employment, no to lazy Saturdays with our girls, and no to any breathing room in my schedule most days. I'm finally learning that every time you say yes to something, you are saying no to something else.

I've been really struggling with all of it this week. It's been enough of an issue for me that I've considered backing out or taking back some of those yes's. But I truly do like feeling involved, being helpful, and doing good; I also truly like having quiet time at home each day, going to bed before one in the morning, and exercising. As I've been turning things over in my head this week trying to figure out how I can better balance all these competing demands I stumbled upon the root of what has been making all these yes's and no's so frustrating for me. I have so many responsibilities pulling me in so many different directions that I don't feel as if I'm giving any of them my very best and it's always been important to me to do the best I can.

Natalie's happy because I let her come to the movies in her pajamas
Today was another marathon day and tomorrow will be an even longer one. I'll need the Sabbath and it's promise of rest more than ever by the time Sunday arrives. But tonight I set aside my burdens and frustrations and said yes again. Yes to going to a late movie with my kids. Yes to having some fun together. Yes to allowing myself to stay up too late and eat too much junk food. It's one yes that I won't regret. 


And just as a little bonus, here's Abigail dancing at the back of theater while we were waiting for the movie to start. 

Comments

  1. GrandmomNovember 18, 2017 at 5:03 PM

    Hang in there Sarah, good for you to a fun night with your girls.

    ReplyDelete

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