When Mom is Just Too Busy

I received an email from a dear friend this morning, asking why I haven’t posted recently. What can I say, I’ve been busy.nnLots of stuff going on.nIt hasn’t all been bad stuff... some of it was really good. Still, I have once again fallen prey to the over-scheduled, over-stressed lifestyle that I have been trying to get out of.n nNot a good week for conscious parenting.n nHere is my “Why I Haven’t Posted This Week” explanation:n n1. My older son had a really bad day last Friday. Let’s just say that disciplinary measures, report cards and hormones were all involved. This was one of those days when I really felt the whole single parent thing. By Saturday morning, the entire family was exhausted.n n2. We hosted Easter dinner at our house on Sunday, after preparing most of the day Saturday. This was the good stuff. We had a lovely afternoon with my sister and her family. The food was delicious and relatively healthy. The sun was shining. n n3. On Monday, I started calling everyone I knew who might be able to provide a babysitter for a weekend trip that I have been trying to plan. This frustrating activity has continued throughout the week, with no positive results. I’m not sure where the Law of Attraction is in this one... I must subconsciously want to miss a conference I’ve been looking forward to all year. n n4. On Tuesday, the town decided to open the baseball fields a week early. At about 11am, I found out that both sons had baseball practice (at opposite ends of town, of course) that evening. After rescheduling our after-school tutor, begging out of an evening chorus performance and recruiting a friend to drive one of my sons to practice, we were good to go.n n5. Wednesday was April 15th. Yippee.n n6. Wednesday was also the day another sister and her family arrived for a quick overnight visit. This was the other really good thing. We don’t see them often enough, so it was a pleasure to set everything else aside for twenty hours or so and enjoy their company.n n7. Squeezed into my open moments, I have been doing laundry, paying bills, picking up new eyeglasses (which of course, need to be adjusted... whenever I have time to get back to the mall), preparing meals, helping with homework, writing but not finishing a couple articles and trying to relax.nnOhm.n nI know that many people are just as busy – and many more so. As a single parent, I tend to find weeks like these overwhelming. But maybe everyone does.n nWhat do we do about this??n nFirst, I guess we need to do less. Or perhaps more importantly, we need to stop trying to do so much. I feel like a bit of a failure every time I prioritize something off my list, and that’s just not right.n nOne way to do less is to own less. My sister and I had a long conversation about living a clutter-free lifestyle, yesterday. More on this in future posts, but suffice to say I am feeling a really strong urge to lighten up on all the material stuff I am dragging through life with me.n nNext, we need to really develop a habit of filling our days with people and things that bring us joy. Our work should be play. Our days should feel like gifts from God.n nBecause they are.n nWhich, finally, brings us to living in the moment. This is what conscious parenting – and life – is all about.n nMy apologies, if you were looking for a post from me and didn’t find one. I made a conscious decision to take care of my children and enjoy my sisters this week. It didn’t feel good to ignore my writing, but it felt very, very good to be present with my family.n nI will write more soon, I promise.n nWishing you all a day of peace and presence (or presents!)n n nRelated Posts:n nI write about the ups and downs of "going it alone" in, Totally Single Parenting.n nRead more about my pursuit of the Law of Attraction in, I would go with the flow... if I could only find it.