The End of A Short-Lived Era

This is a sad post for me - but it shouldn't come as a surprise to those of you who have been checking for 2 months and haven't seen any new material! I have been introspecting lately and have come to a conclusion: I need to simplify my life! There are too many things vying for my attention and time! I just finished reading a book called "Crazybusy: Overstretched, Overbooked and About to Snap!" Well, I am one who snapped. On Thanksgiving Eve, we were just about ready to have our first service in our church's addition. This should have been a joyous time: thanking God for His provision, rejoicing with eachother and getting ready to spend a holiday weekend with our families. Things were so last minute problems (i.e. tech equipment getting delivered the day of the service - one of MANY issues) that when Eric came to meet me for the service, I had an emotional breakdown in the hallway of the church. I still get teary thinking about it - that's how stressed I was right then. Eric took me home and I slept for 12 hours straight. Looking back, there were a lot of things leading up to that moment that contributed to my break-down. I wasn't getting enough sleep, I was allowing certain family situations to affect me and there were so many work and home details going through my brain that my body said, "ENOUGH!" So, even though I crashed that fateful Wednesday night, I put myself back into the tense situation by plowing ahead and working the entire holiday weekend (Thanksgiving Day included). I should have said "No" quite a bit more than I did. And since I can't change the past, I am applying what I learned from that situaion to the here-and-now. I am weeding: cleaning the things out of my life that may not hurt anything, but add to the clutter in my mind at all times. I like blogging - but I don't LOVE blogging. I like being able to connect with friends and family, but there are other ways! (So please email or call me - I'm not disconnecting from people, just the cluttering activities!) I will also be examaning other parts of my life looking for ways to simplify, unclutter and weed out those things that invade my life and take up too much energy. One thing I'm doing (in case you were wondering) is giving myself a clean inbox. I marked as spam all but ONE company's emails. I was receiving updates from 20+ on a regular basis! I am also looking around for items in my home that add to the stress: too much maintainance required or something I don't really enjoy having enough to justify it's place here. (Unfortunately, I can't bring myself to argue against the dishes - although I will allow myself to let the sink get full before washing!) Blogging is going on my list of "weeds" for now. I may blog occasionally, but don't look for regular posts. Here are the four C's I'm focusing on in my quest for a simple life(taken from "Crazybusy"):
"1. Connect: by connecting with the people and projects that matter most to you, you create an emotional atmosphere at home, at work and wherever you go. Connecting with others is also the best way to reduce worry. It is fine to worry, just try never to worry alone.
2. Control: control your technology - cell phone, email, and the like - don't let it control you.
3. Cancel: People (and organizations) add activites, but they rarely subtract. It may seem difficult at first, but if you get in the habit of canceling what doesn't really matter, you'll be amazed at how much better you feel and how much more energy you have. Pare your life down to its best!
4. Create: Create structures and systems in your life that help you get organized.
5. Care: Decide what you care most about. You do not have time for everything you care about, so you must prioritize. If you don't do this consciously, you will do it unconsciously simply because what you care about exceeds the time you have to devote to each item on your list.
6. Cultivate: Cultivate your lilies[people or projects that when you engage with them, make you feel fulfilled and satisfied] and discard your leeches[people or projects that waste your time and attention, leaving you feeling depleted]. What do you want more of? What do you want less of? Figure that out, then do it!"

So readers, I am heading out to "do it"! I may someday find that blogging has room in my life again, but for today, I say good-bye!