Mojo Mom takes a break to regroup
I have felt frustrated that I haven't been able to blog more this week, and I am going to give myself a short break from the Mojo Mom blog. If my schedule allows, I'll be back next week.
I need to set aside a few days for planning and get my priorities in order for the rest of March and April. I have a new project cooking, which I will tell you about soon. I also have important things on my to-do list that have not gotten done yet, as well as requests from other people for work that they want me to do for them.
I don't think of myself as a person who can't say "no" because I will feel guilty, but I am faced with the situation where I am offered more worthy, valuable opportunities than I can take on at once. This is both a blessing and a challenge. I am sure that many of you are faced with a similar situation. Any advice on how to proceed?
I know that when I look at my calendar and can't schedule an essential meeting because I am busy doing work for other people, that is a problem, no matter how valuable those other projects are.
To paraphrase the book The Tao of Womanhood, a book that I read a long time ago that has always stayed with me, sometimes we need to honorably tie up the loose ends we have created for ourselves, in work and relationships. I also recommend the recent New York Times article, "The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors," based on Daniel Ariely's book Predictably Irrational, as valuable food for thought for overscheduled Moms.
The Mojo Mom blog is my own worthy project, and I will be back soon!
I need to set aside a few days for planning and get my priorities in order for the rest of March and April. I have a new project cooking, which I will tell you about soon. I also have important things on my to-do list that have not gotten done yet, as well as requests from other people for work that they want me to do for them.
I don't think of myself as a person who can't say "no" because I will feel guilty, but I am faced with the situation where I am offered more worthy, valuable opportunities than I can take on at once. This is both a blessing and a challenge. I am sure that many of you are faced with a similar situation. Any advice on how to proceed?
I know that when I look at my calendar and can't schedule an essential meeting because I am busy doing work for other people, that is a problem, no matter how valuable those other projects are.
To paraphrase the book The Tao of Womanhood, a book that I read a long time ago that has always stayed with me, sometimes we need to honorably tie up the loose ends we have created for ourselves, in work and relationships. I also recommend the recent New York Times article, "The Advantages of Closing a Few Doors," based on Daniel Ariely's book Predictably Irrational, as valuable food for thought for overscheduled Moms.
The Mojo Mom blog is my own worthy project, and I will be back soon!
Labels: overscheduling, Predictably Irrational, setting priorities, Tao of Womanhood
posted by MojoMom at 9:19 AM
5 Comments:
Take all the time you need. We'll be here when you get back.
Congrats on giving yourself the space and time you need to tackle other projects. I just took a month off from my blog (although I know I wasn't missed as much as you are sure to be!). Once I shook off the "you should be writing today" feelings, and embraced all of the other projects I have on my plate, I didn't miss it a bit. The Closing Doors article helped me to keep it in perspective, and also was a great reminder to get my kids off the insane treadmill of activities that we feel we "should" be doing with them. To hell with 8:30am Saturday soccer...you'll find us in our jammies, reading the paper, drinking an extra cup of coffee, while our kids indulge in an hour of Saturday morning cartoons.
I like your attitude about this. It isn't that you have to learn to say "no." You are happy about the opportunities you have but you just can't possibly do them all. You recognize the blessing of having these opportunities at all -ie. It's a great problem to have, for example. I don't know the answer, either, but I will check out your suggested sources.
While I will miss your posts - I can also relate on the opposite side. I have so many great blogs to read these days - some that inspire, some that make me laugh, some that fulfill my sense of "I am not alone in this world" feelings... But, I can feel overwhelmed when I haven't had a chance to check in and read/comment on my favorites. The blog world is a never ending book that I am so glad to have, but one that is hard to keep up with. It is hard in this current technological society to keep up with it all!
I am with Perri - my kids are only 2 and 3, we haven't signed up for anything yet - no soccer, dance, horseback riding, or piano - just a lot of time together and hanging out.
It's an open question of how much of a "break" I will really take. It's in part a question of how many other things I HAVE to get done each day. As a blogger there is a lot of anxiety about not writing, followed by the release of writing, followed by renewed tension in the endless cycle of "what's next?" I need to give myself permission to write when the spirit moves me. That is pretty much how I have always operated on the Mojo Mom blog but I needed to state it to take some of the pressure off myself.
It's really my CNET blog that is putting me under pressure, but that has started to seep over into my feelings about Mojo Mom....
Thanks for being there, all of you, for reading, listening, and understanding!
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