You know how you can tell you’ve got too much on your plate?
You start making dumb mistakes. Or at least I do.
Some are inconsequential—little mishaps such as losing the car keys or storing the milk in the freezer. Nobody gets hurt, except maybe for my pride.
Other mistakes, however, can be catastrophic. And that’s when I know it’s time to destress before the whole house goes up in flames.
Literally.
Last week I was in a rush to get out the door on time. I’d been carrying an excessive load of work-related activities: recording sessions, PR interviews, writing deadlines—and to top it off, my household was in full end-of-school-year mode, filled with recitals and concerts and field trips to chaperone. As a boss mom of two tweens, my normal busy routine morphed to pure madness. It’s no wonder my poor brain was on overload.
So when I whipped up a quick grilled cheese sandwich, flipped it onto a paper plate, and sped out of the house—into my minivan, across town for the day—I gave myself a pat on the back for managing another day’s crazy schedule.
Until my husband called.
“There’s smoke in the kitchen. Did you leave the burner on?”
Uhhh…
Sure enough, in my scramble to eat and run, I had apparently neglected to turn off the stove—where my sandwich pan still sat atop the red-hot burner, with a plastic spatula melting into the Teflon. This might not have been a huge deal had my husband been home at the time—but he, too, was running from meeting to meeting, and by the grace of God he happened to return to our kitchen just ten minutes after I left it. Soon enough to turn off the heat, remove the pan, and dispel what might have been pure disaster.
Our puppy was locked in his crate at the time.
If the house had started on fire…
I can’t even go there.
What a dumb move.
Thank GOD nothing worse happened. I’m well aware this story could have turned out tragically. But instead, I’m sharing it with you, half chuckling over my airheaded actions, able to grasp the incident as a life lesson rather than a life crisis—all because of God’s grace and protection, which I will never take for granted.
But my true point is this: when our minds and hearts get overloaded with too much junk—busyness, worry, distractions, stress—we run the risk of dropping rubble to the ground. And sometimes that rubble is trivial, like the misplaced car keys, and sometimes it’s not. Trouble is, we don’t get to choose which of our spills turn out fine and which ones don’t. So the best approach is to prevent them from happening in the first place.
How?
Let’s get serious about taking care of our souls. Here are my favorite steps to self-care for the busy, overloaded woman.
- Look up. Assess your situation, your schedule, your mental capacity and moods. Have you hit your limit? Chances are, if you’re asking the question in the first place, then the answer is yes.
- Cut the junk. What can be removed from your calendar in order to make time to rest and refuel? Are you adding anything to your schedule that God never intended you to carry?
- Maximize margin. Find creative ways to utilize down time to your advantage—even within the confines of your agenda. Read a book while you wait in the carpool line at soccer practice. Listen to worship music while you walk the dog. Give the kids 30 minutes of mandatory quiet time then hide away in your room while they rest.
- Give yourself grace. Not a single one of us can be everything to everyone all the time. That job is reserved for God. And He’s so much better at it than we are.“It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:2, ESV)
So for the sake of our sanity and fire prevention everywhere, sisters—let’s all pay a little more attention. To ourselves, our stoves, and to our Savior who loves us in spite of what we do (or don’t do). Are you with me?
My latest book, The Cranky Mom Fix: Get a Happier, More Peaceful Home by Slaying the “Momster” in All of Us is designed to help busy, frazzled moms like you and me discover kinder, gentler ways of coping with our craziness. I pray it will bless you tremendously!
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Becky Kopitzke is a blogger, speaker, encourager, and the author of three books including The Cranky Mom Fix: Get a Happier, More Peaceful Home by Slaying the “Momster” in All of Us, now available from booksellers nationwide.