Intentionality

For years I’ve walked thru my house with blinders on.  It was not negligent, it was necessity.

I’ve never thought I was superwoman who could do it all.  And I wasn’t trying to.  So I was prioritizing.  If the kids had full tummies and clean clothes; then my attention was on my work.  After work came sleep.  And some days when there was a lull, the house got my attention.

Of course I cleaned a little here and there; but not the deep cleaning that a house needs.  Everything else in life was just going too fast.

2017 has been my year of being intentional in making changes.  This year I have asked for help for things in life that were going too fast.  I now have an Amazing assistant who has helped tremendously.  I no longer feel like I’m drowning in work with no time to sleep.  I have actually been sleeping 7-8 hours a night for the first time in about 8-9 years!  I’m still very busy with work; but I’m no longer drowning!

And I have a wonderful woman who comes in every couple of weeks and helps with my house.  This was very difficult for me.  It actually took me quite awhile to get in a good place mentally with this.  A woman is supposed to be able to take care of her home, right?  But my need for help is not from laziness.  I have four children and two businesses.  The house just always seemed to fall to the bottom of the list.  And that’s not right.  I had made room in the budget for this some time ago.  The question came down to pride.  And it is crazy that I let pride hold me up on this for so long.  The help around the house is wonderful!  P.S.  The kids definitely still have to help too!!

This past week, and wrapping up today; we have been going thru everything on the second floor of this house.  Bookshelves to dresser drawers to under the beds; everything has been touched.  This feels amazing!  Goodwill is loving my car pulling up to their donation center!  Next up is my home office, and then my kitchen/dining room!  Then I’ll rest until next year 🙂

Tonight I am thankful for intentional changes to get life under control.  For so long I felt as if I were just barely keeping up with life.  I knew slowing down was an option.  But the more I looked at life; the more it rang clear that I just needed better ways of doing things much more than I needed to slow things down.  Intentional changes are hard.  They take time!  I’ve been working on these things all of this year!!  And now, I’m definitely feeling some of the fruits of this labor.  It feels good!  And as I keep working on this plan, it will feel even better!