Priorities

We had our Learning Circle meeting last week. I'm loving my new group here in Ogden.  I so look forward to our meetings and the chance to laugh hard and learn new ideas as we discuss the monthly article. I seriously wish for a monthly gathering like this for every mom in the world (there's a link to the program in the column on the right if you want to learn more).

This month we talked about priorities and wow, I sure needed this one. We talked about that demonstration you've probably seen before where you have a bunch of rocks of different sizes and some sand and water and you're supposed to fit it all into a jar.  You've got to put the big rocks in first or there's no way they'll fit later on.  We talked about how that image is helpful but in real life, you end up throwing in small rocks first because sometimes you just feel like dealing with those small rocks at the time.  It's hard to be disciplined enough to get those big rocks in there first.

Since our meeting, I've been working hard to focus on the "big rocks" in my life and keep my priorities straight. I've totally closed up my computer once the kids get home from school and have focused entirely on helping them with homework, making good dinners, helping them get better at their after dinner jobs, and giving enough time to do some reading with them at bedtime.  I know that when I do these things, I feel so much better about myself as a mom and my family functions much better. It's been hard to resist the temptation to sit down and check email when the kids are humming along with their homework.  But I've learned from experience that that never works out.  I get sucked into something and get annoyed when the kids want something and it's a downward spiral.  And I've been protecting time each evening to really spend time with my husband.  We even went on TWO dates in the past week - after not making time for dates for months.  We went to an amazing regional dinner event at our friend's fabulous restaurant, The Sonora Grill, and went to a fun a'cappella concert at the amphitheater downtown - great food and great music - two priorities that are important to me that I've been neglecting quite a bit.

And you know what?  My most urgent Power of Moms work is still getting done.  As I'm really disciplined and do the most important tasks while the kids are gone at school, I don't need to squeeze things in during the afternoons and evenings.

I've got fingernail clipping at the top of my list of priorities for this afternoon - it's a small rock that is becoming a bigger rock each day.  I'm realizing I can hardly type with these nails and my toenails were cutting into my feet when I went running plus the kids' nails are getting scary.  Somehow the dumb little task of fingernail clipping doesn't become a priority as often as it should!