Overcoming the Struggle to Juggle

To the women who have those days.

You know what I’m talking about. The days you wake up and think “really?”. The days you know are going to be hard. You roll out of bed anyway- not having a choice. You are a mother, a wife, employee, and friend. You are the one they depend on when they need something. ALL of them. You are the one they come to when their diaper needs to be changed, when their heart is broken and when there is no more toilet paper. It’s all you baby; you are exhausted and at the end of your rope.

Being a woman, according to Genesis 2, means being a helper. To me, there is no other place I would rather be than by my husbands’ side, serving my family well, volunteering in some capacity or being a part of the team at work. But sometimes, enough already. Can I just have a few moments to, I don’t know, savor my life and everything I’ve been blessed with? Without the demands of being everything to everyone?

I know what you are thinking, we have chosen to be this way. We have chosen to take care of it all because it’s somehow easier. If you want something done right, do it yourself, right? I am here to tell you it doesn’t have to be like this. We do not have to be everything to everyone and lose ourselves in the process.  Guess what? Jesus led multitudes of people, and even he took a break.

Wait, what?!

Yes, it is true. When Jesus was overwhelmed, he did the best thing in the worst situations.  He walked away to commune with his father, prayerful and meditative. He took a moment. He needed to be refreshed, renewed, redirected and refueled. So here is my question to you- if we are to be like Jesus, and we are to model our lives after him, why aren’t we taking a break when we need one- before we feel like it is all impossible?  What is so important to be done, that we cannot just let someone else handle it for us, just this one time?

Recently I was feeling the crunch of life. I was really struggling to juggle, and get myself rested at the same time. I over committed and became quickly overwhelmed. I had to be reminded, its ok to take a step back, to say no when I need to rest. I have the ability to take a break from some things. Not everything I do is mandatory. I stepped back for several weeks from just about everything. It was the best decision I have made in a long time.  Now, I am slowly introducing some of those things back into my schedule. But, only some of them. I found I do not miss a few of the things I was doing or volunteering for. The biggest revelation? They don’t need me either. That’s right. All of that guilt I had at the beginning is gone because the world didn’t stop turning when I walked away.

Walking away was the best thing I could do. Sometimes in order to refocus and get our priorities in order, we need to cut loose a couple things that take up our time. It doesn’t mean we are quitters, it means we have a clear vision of where our time is best spent, and it is important to us. Knowing when to get a handle on things is important, and overcoming the struggle to juggle will change everything.