Happy Wednesday! I am so excited to participate in this blog hop today, discussing such an important topic on creating balance in our lives.  I will be sharing today how to create a balance between working, being a mom, and a wife -among other things! You are going to get four takes on this subject with some amazing ladies so be sure to go through the whole blog hop and hopefully you can pick up some good tips and tricks! If you are coming from Leslie with Pretty Petals welcome, I am so glad you are here! I loved what she shared in her post! This is such an important topic for Women and how we aim to create balance in a life when we have so much on our plates.
I googled the definition of balance, it is creating equilibrium between contrasting, opposing, or interacting elements. When I thought about this topic and all the things that I have on my plate it made me realize that balance may look so different to all of us depending on the season of life we are in. I have things in my life that take priority and more weight than others. How I juggle it all is my form of balance. What I have learned in the last 3.5 years being a Mom is that perfection is out the window. Being a Mom of two kids under two years apart meant survival mode in the first few years, and I am still there. I put so much pressure on myself to do it all and something had to give. What I have realized is giving yourself space in your life and in your schedule is so important along with Grace. Life will never go according to our plans and when it does, it’s only a matter of time for when it doesn’t. Let’s be real, being a Mom with two unpredictable kids means a lot of Grace is needed. The dishes can wait till bedtime, the laundry at times can be put aside, and the house can be messy until tomorrow.
I Can’t-Do It All-As much as I thought I could, I really couldn’t. Instead, I put my health at risk by putting too much on my plate. Asking for help from my husband, my Mom, and friends have been my saving grace! I never wanted to ask for help, even when I desperately needed it.
Say No More– Saying yes to something means you are saying no to something else. Prioritize what’s most important to you and say no to the things that don’t fit in your top priorities.
Create A Routine– I strongly dislike the word routine. It’s so boring to me, however so important at the same time for keeping my sanity and especially so important with kids.
Build Lists-Of all the things that you need to get done. Prioritize this daily, weekly.
Plan-Plan your week on Sundays. I plan meals and what my week looks like. This helps me start the week off right.
Give Yourself Grace-sometimes the plans just have to be thrown out the window and you have to go with the flow. That’s okay!
This has been an area that I really needed to focus on after having two little ones. Our random date nights have been replaced with bedtime routines and laundry. It is so important to create set date nights. We planned a trip together without the little ones. It was so good for us to just have time together, and focus on each other. Planning an annual trip and scheduled date nights has really helped us. If you can’t get away even planning date nights in is a great option or staycations.
My priority is my family, while I love being able to do what I love my family’s needs will always come first. Some things that I do to create balance while working is setting specific times that I work. I work while my youngest daughter naps and my oldest daughter has quiet time. This allows me to focus my mornings on them as opposed to trying to juggle both. It has helped me knowing that I can focus my time working in the afternoon and then after the girls are in bed. I create lists and prioritize the items that I need to get done along with deadlines so that I make sure I am able to get everything done. Another really important trick I have learned is to complete one task at a time. Don’t multi-task. Stay focused on one task, once you complete it move onto the next. This has helped my productivity tremendously.
A BOOK THAT I LOVE ON THIS TOPIC:
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This year has taught me how important self-care and love is. I have to take time to be by myself and do the things that I truly enjoy. It is important to do things for yourself. Whether it’s grabbing an amazing cup of coffee and reading a great book by yourself or meeting a friend for lunch, or getting your workout in. You have to take care of you! A perfect example from a book I have been reading is you can’t take care of others if you aren’t taking care of yourself. Set aside time weekly and daily where you block out a set amount of time to dedicate to yourself.
If there is one word I could continually tell you when trying to create balance, it would be Grace. As Women these days we have so much on our plate and an incredible amount of pressure to be able to do it all. Let’s face it we can’t do everything perfectly, something has to give. The idea of perfection and complete balance is just not attainable. It’s okay if the dishes sit in the sink a little bit longer, or if the laundry piles up. It’s okay if you order food in. Something has to give and it shouldn’t be our sanity. Show yourself an incredible amount of grace, prioritize the areas most important to you and focus less on the other areas.
Hope you enjoyed this post on creating balance in your life while also giving yourself grace! Next in the blog hop is Brittany with Best In Blogs, you have to read her amazing post and take on this subject! Along with the other bloggers below.
Jenn with Jenn Loyd Life & Style
Leslie with Pretty Petals
Bethany with The Posh Home
Brittany with Best In Blogs
Photography:
Family photo taken by Blooming Cactus EventsSecond photo taken by Jcqlins Photography
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So many wonderful tips here Bethany! Work-life balance is dynamic and being flexible and living in the moment helps us keep calm .. so we can carry on 🙂 I think many women would agree that we are so hard on ourselves and having that desire to create perfection is not healthy. Loved all of this! xo
Thank you so much!! That is so true Leslie! I love the tips that you shared and excited to incorporate some of those! xoxo
Creating a routine and making lists have been a big help for me! I added having Olivia pick out her clothes the night before after you mentioned it and it’s working so much better! No more fighting in the mornings which makes our days better. So glad I have you to do motherhood with!
I am so glad to hear that!! I am so glad we get to do motherhood together too! xoxo
Such great tips! Most of them are things I practice as well to create balance with all things we juggle on a day-to-day basis, but I’m a multi-tasker and I actually like your suggestion NOT to do that. Definitely going to try that out!!