Each day, laptop and children permitting, I’ll share a prompt that’s been on my mind, and a few of my thoughts.
You are welcome to share your own perspective in the comments, or just journal it out!
What is one thing on my to-do list that I can let go of today?
Recently, my friend Pallavi (from Curating Thoughts) shared that one of her struggles is not being able to “do it all”. I admit, as a mom, and a human being in general, I relate.
But, a friend on Facebook shared this anecdote a while ago that I keep coming back to, so I wanted to share it with you today.
One time, I was at a Q & A with Nora Roberts, and someone asked her how to balance writing and kids, and she said that the key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic & some are made of glass.
And if you drop a plastic ball, it bounces, no hard done. If you drop a glass ball, it shatters, so you have to know which balls are glass and which are plastic and prioritize catching the glass ones.
Nora was not talking about juggling five balls. She was talking about juggling FIFTY-FIVE balls. The balls don’t represent ‘family’ or ‘work’. There are separate balls for everything that goes into each of these categories. ‘Deadline on Project Y’ or ‘crazy sock day at school’.
And her point, addressing a room full of women, was not ‘prioritize kids over work’. It was ‘some kid stuff is glass and some is plastic, and sometimes, to catch a glass work ball, you have to drop a plastic family one, and that is okay.’
And the reverse is also true. Sometimes, to catch a glass kid ball, something at work has to slide, and that is okay, too. If you are juggling 55 balls, some are going to drop, so you have to focus not on broad categories, but on the glass balls.
I think about this ALL THE TIME. I dropped more than one ball today. It is hard to drop any ball, and I hate it! But they were plastic, and tomorrow, it will be okay.”
– Jennifer Lynn Barnes
So, my question for you today is, what are your glass balls, and what are your plastic ones?
❤ Jenny
Love the ball analogy🏐
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Love you, Momma 🙂
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I was dropping too many glass balls when I was working a stressful job, i.e. kids, dinner, health. In the end, instead of trying to balance the juggling, I opted to remove the plastic balls so that I could juggle the glass balls only, which was within my means. When those glass balls aren’t so heavy, I’ll start adding some plastic balls.
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That’s a great practice, Kathy. Sticking to what matters most! I make my to-do list each day, and automatically decide which ones are a “must” and which would just be nice. It helps me let go when I get over-ambitious.
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Love it 😍 I can read less and work more 😂😂
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Lol! It’s always good to take inventory 🙂
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I didn’t really write anything today. Sometimes, if I force it, it just doesn’t turn out well. I don’t always need to pressure myself into writing something significant.
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Haha, well I can relate! I’ve been a bit sporadic lately. We are getting our house re-financed and were working on prepping for the appraisal, plus decorating for Christmas, plus kids and life. So. I’m taking off the pressure this month, and just writing when I have a moment 🙂
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