Life can get crazy. And by crazy, I mean super busy. All I have to do is watch one local parade to quickly know of at least 10 activities my children could be participating in locally that we have never tried. There are so many things our children can participate in. We don’t just offer children one sport a season anymore. They have a whole variety of sports that are year round, not to mention the many seasonal sports that are available. You can also easily find teachers to teach your children a whole variety of instruments. Just activities for your children can fill up your life as fast as they can say, “Sign here.”
Then you add in the little fact that you and your spouse are people, too. You might have hobbies. You might volunteer for things. You might have activities and obligations that can take up time.
I am in awe at the sheer number of things that could be pursued in life. In our age of the Internet, eBooks, and YouTube, you can learn to do just about anything you want to do. We see long-lost friends from high school doing one thing, that roommate from college doing another, and our neighbor doing something different than the previous two and we can easily tell ourselves we need to do all three.
I love learning. I love hobbies. I love helping and being involved. I love seeing my children try new things and gain skills in a variety of subjects. I have a hard time knowing what to do with the time we have been given.
And so a quote like this that comes along is my North star. It really makes things easy to prioritize. “Many things are good, many are important, but only a few are essential” Elder D. Todd Christofferson.
The trick is to work through that list backward. What is essential in life?
There are so many good things. There are even important things. But only a few things in our lives are essential. Make sure those essential things are part of your day and then see what important things you can add to that. If you happen to have time after the important, pick some good things. I am reminded of this quote:
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I know, I bring this up all the time! That is because I love it. For me, prayer is an essential thing. If ever my life is so busy that I forget to pray or put off praying, I know it is time to reevaluate and cut some good things to make room for my essential things.
I am not here to tell you what things are essential and what are “only” good. That is for you to decide. Think about the ways you spend your time and decide where they fit in this list.
You will never be able to do all of the good and even important things you see available before you. But you will be able to do the essential things. Those are the things you will look back on later in life and feel good about spending your time there. Focus on the essential things and everything else you do each day will be a happy bonus.
Related Posts:
- Balancing Household Responsibilities with Family Time
- Quotable Mondays (on a Wednesday): Time with God
- We Don’t Need to Live at a Frantic Pace
- Getting Stuff Done–Stop Fighting Yourself!
- Guilt as a Mother: Consider the Source
- Quotable Mondays: You Can’t Do Everything
- A Good Woman
- Slow the Pace
- 10 Ways to Save Your Sanity
- Good Sacrifice vs. Foolish Sacrifice
- It’s A Journey, Not A Destination
- Motherhood: Some Uplifting Words (again)
- Increasing Our Capacity
