Life is a juggling act on the best of days. It’s like a ride in the Millennium Falcon and our to do list sometimes feels like those fast moving streaks of stars that we know we want, should, would, and could do.
There is just a lot of stuff that warrant our attention and beg for our time. Too much sometimes if you don’t manage your life properly and this incessant play for our attention never stops either. I cannot recall any time in my life when I felt I was done, because there is always something else, something more to get to. Work, family, friends, and a semblance of our dreams and desires constantly streaks against our time.
Life is like that and life will continue to be like that. There is nothing wrong with it either. We really don’t want to stop, and it’s perfectly fine to get into the groove of knowing when to slow down and close our eyes to it all.
If you’re feeling overwhelmed with various aspects of your life, you must remember that you don’t have to try so hard. Things are probably not as dire or as imminently important as you might perceive them. What is extremely dangerous and sad in all of this, is that we can get lost and lose track of why we are in the spaceship of life in the first place. We can lose touch with our soul. Lose touch with our humanity and the meaningful joy of being. We can lose touch and not see the forrest for the trees.
When I see those fast moving streaks of stars in my life, I ask myself what I need to do next? Something small. Something that can be counted and achieved. A task with a purpose that when done will come to an end. I then reach for the next one and the one after that.
When you find yourself in a juggling life, it is important to slow down, and drip by drip, step by step, get to the next thing.
Life is a series of next things. Time seems to be a string of existence and how wonderful it feels to not lose focus and look back and see growth and development where otherwise there would not be.
Don’t the next thing gives you the freedom and the insight to say no and we don’t say no often enough. No. One syllable. Two letters. The shunned word that leads to so many possibilities.
Say yes to this and no to that. Say no as soon as possible and get to the next thing.
We get so fearful of being mean, of hurting peoples feelings. We get so marred with the possibility of losing our job, or disappointing someone that we string things along, but in the end honesty wins.
It doesn’t matter if you are right or wrong. It doesn’t matter if your yes or no was the right decision. What matters is that you are able to give a decisive answer in the first place. There have been plenty of times when I have said no, but did the exact opposite, realizing that it was the wrong decision to make. And I have said yes to plenty of things which after months and years have turned out to be a waste of time.
There is a viable way to get away from being overwhelmed in life. Say no to the things you don’t want to or can’t get to. Trust yourself, and get on to the next thing.
So what’s next?
Cover photo generously provided by photographer Jeremy Thomas via unsplash.com
