Priorities

You can learn a lot about life from gardening.  Specifically, weeding.

It doesn’t take long for weeds to take over.  If you are not on top of it on a regular basis you have a weed patch more than a flower garden.

Who has time for this?  What with everything else that needs maintaining, weeding a garden is just one more thing on our To-Do lists. It becomes neglected altogether until something must be done or you risk losing a child in the overgrown thicket.

Some of us live our lives like that.  We are constantly putting out fires.  Instead of simplifying our lives, we run from one overgrown mess to another, hacking away, trying to make a difference in the shortest amount of time possible. We’re busy and we’re running out of patience.

Am I the only one who has noticed that everyone is frazzled and short-tempered lately?  Let’s not even talk about how we’re all acting like two-year-olds when we’re behind the wheel.

There are things happening in the world that are scary but I think that the underlying reason we’re feeling this way is because of the urgency modern life imposees.  We are perpetually running behind and it feels as if there is not enough time to accomplish everything.  It’s true, there isn’t.

You know we spend a lot of money as a nation on books that tells us what to do with our lives. We want to simplify. We want to succeed.  And we’d like it right now….after all, the clock is ticking.  I can tell you right now what it takes: Figure out what matters to you.  Bam. Done.

What is your first priority?  Family? Business? Your car? Your home?  Your dog?

Fine. Focus on that.

My priorities are: Family (the complete support & maintenance of), writing and friends.  Done.  End of story.

You can’t have five thousand priorities people.  That negates the very definition of priority.  Besides, you’re human.

I know you can multitask amazingly but it is really to the detriment of….well, over a million car accidents a year (And that is just the statistic for texting while driving.  It doesn’t include other forms of distracted driving.)

Multitasking also has an effect on relationships.  The more frazzled you get, the harder it is to be patient with one another.  And this goes both ways.  Because when both partners are distracted and overwhelmed and one tries to calm down and singularly focus on what matters, it can be disheartening when the other one is still flying down the road, so to speak, in all different directions.

And, of course, let’s talk (briefly) on multitasking and health.  It’s bad for you.  It makes you crazy.  So stop it.

Breathe.

And realize this: There is a lot that glitters in this world.  There are a lot of good options out there.  Naturally, we don’t want to miss a thing and we end up grabbing it all.  Credit card debt anybody?

The problem with good is that it comes at the expense of great.

It’s up to you.  You want a thousand good things that drive you mad or a few great things that really matter and bring you joy?

Our lives need weeding.

Figure out what truly matters and focus on that.  Everything else is just details.