I saw this on social media recently, which was very pertinent to my week.
“The key to juggling work and kids is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass.”
Nora Roberts
You see, I have been doing the usual summertime juggle: work, training, kids and dog. I suspect I’m far from alone in this. It’s been a never ending litany of chores and jobs and “I’m bored” and “I’m hungry”. (Except for the dog – she’s happy whatever!)
So this post resonated with me.
The key is understanding which balls are plastic. Because if you drop them, they will therefore bounce. No real harm is done.
But if you drop a glass ball, it shatters! Harm is done. And THEN you have to sort out the shattered glass. Which takes you away from all the rest of the juggling.
I thought it was a really good analogy.
It’s useful to think in really small terms about what each ball represents. So for example thinking “Kids” is too general. Some kid stuff will be glass and some of it will be plastic. It’s important to know what bits of “Kids” is plastic and you can therefore drop.
The other thing is, when you relegate some stuff to plastic it kind of gives you permission to drop these balls. So I’ve totally dropped the “anything to do with housework” balls recently! I’ll catch up with it somehow (or rather the cleaner will, when we’re away!). But for now I’ve given myself permission to not stress about the dog hair on the carpet. (No one else seems to notice it or care anyhow.)
On the other hand, my training is definitely Glass, because getting an hour to myself remains the only way for me to keep sane and not crabby. And I’ve got one last competition coming up and I REALLY want to do well!
Anyhow, enough about me.
I’ll leave you with this: when life is beginning to feel a bit too full, try to visualise this system of glass and plastic. Force yourself to relegate some bits to plastic and to let them drop to the ground.
It will help you to prioritise AND to give yourself a break.
