You say: I can manage my own life.
In fact, I can do it all! I’m smart, capable, efficient, strong, creative, educated, healthy, good natured, and sometimes, kinda funny! But in your private thoughts you hear, “Well, I have it all, so I should be able to do it all.”
Why do we feel that way? All the attributes in the world, some listed above, plus many more, don’t equip us for this world of opportunity and access, which leads to expectations, which leads to over commitment. Not to mention, the unpredictable scenarios we face at different seasons in our lives. Attributes like those above sound like a recipe for success, yet we find ourselves wondering, “Why does life feel like such a mess?”
Does this sound like you? Or, how about Sarah, who is a Positive Vibe addict with good intentions.
Upon waking, Sarah vowed to tackle the spare bedroom that has become the landing spot for everything that she says she’ll get to later. The kids and husband are out the door. She drinks her cup of coffee while dressing for her workout class. She drives to the gym while listening to her latest podcast, PosiTEEV. After an hour workout, she’s invigorated, and is confident she’s not looking half bad. She scheduled a stop at the grocery store, before going home to shower. Sarah’s on schedule, until she stops to reminisce with a mom about the Little League game last night, which includes an “Oh, by the way, have you had a chance to call around for a pet groomer for the silent auction?”
Sarah’s cognizant of the time, so she does her best to accelerate the convo, intentionally not initiating new comments, yet she indulges her mom friend, because that’s the polite thing to do. Sarah tells mom friend that she’s going to make calls about the dog groomer by day’s end, and she gets an affirmative response that feels like an informal contract. A teensy amount of anxiety begins to crop up as Sarah recognizes that things are beginning to take a turn in her schedule.
She gets into her car, and eagerly presses PLAY for more inspiration from PosiTEEV. Day 25 says to remind yourself that you’re just one person, and you can only do so much, and don’t sweat the stuff you don’t get done today; it will be there tomorrow! Sarah takes this advice to heart, and also decides she has plenty of day left. It’s 10am. She’ll get to the store, be home by 10:45, showered and dressed by 11:30 (no make up necessary; this is an AT HOME DAY!), and tackle the spare bedroom.
As she pulls into her driveway, her cell phone rings. A familiar and dreaded number appears on her phone; it’s work. She has the day off. She engages in a mental flip flop convo about whether to answer the phone. Because Sarah’s a contributor, not one of those who cares only about her own needs, she answers the phone. Her boss tells her that she respects her day off, and she’s not going to ask her to come in, but could Sarah possibly do a quick Zoom training on the budget software with the new bookkeeper? The boss is sure that if Sarah can just give the new person thirty minutes, it will make all the difference, especially because there’s no one better than Sarah to train people. “Of course,” Sarah says. “I can give thirty minutes.” She hangs up, and because she listens to PosiTEEV, she thinks, “What’s thirty minutes?” It’s not the whole day! In fact, I can even afford not to take a shower today.
Sarah makes room on the island by stuffing the cereal boxes from breakfast into the cupboard, and then places breakfast dishes and lunch making utensils into the sink, all to clean later. She unloads the groceries, while also messaging the new person at work with a Zoom link set for 12:30 (Sarah’s really good at being proactive, so 12:30 will give her some breathing room). She puts the groceries away, and downs a quick veggie juice because now she’s hungry, but feeling like there’s no time to make lunch. She feels something grainy under her feet, so she investigates, to discover the dog’s gotten into the cat litter (used cat litter) again, and with the vacuum cleaner, she follows the trail of cat extriment that’s been sprinkled around the house. She remembers she needs to call her friend Nancy to get her cleaning lady referral.
The doorbell rings. It’s UPS. They have a package for Sarah, so she thanks the driver, and reminds him to help himself to a snack and water that Sarah leaves by the door for delivery people. Except, Sarah notices the address on the package is her neighbor’s. She decides she’ll text her neighbor later, probably after the Zoom meeting, but just then Sarah’s neighbor texts her, asking if she might have her package, because she got a notification it was delivered, but it’s not at her door. Sarah calls her neighbor because she knows that will be more efficient than a back and forth text conversation. The neighbor answers and Sarah tells her that yes, she does have her package. As she begins to tell neighbor that she’d be happy to run it over after her 12:30 Zoom appt, neighbor speaks up and asks if Sarah would mind terribly much bringing it to her, because the package is diapers and they have somehow completely run out, and her three month old daughter has just had an explosion. “Absolutely! No problem at all. I’ll bring it right over,” Sarah cheerfully replies.
Sarah drops off the package and makes a fast getaway, because she’s efficient like that. She makes it back just in time for the 12:30 training session, which instead of ending at 1:00, ends at 1:30, because the new person had “just a couple more questions.”
Sarah gets off the Zoom call, looks at the clock, and her throat tightens with emotion she refuses to identify, and instead thinks of her PosiTEEV podcast, where she recalls techniques for moments just like this. She needs a breather. She sits down and gathers her thoughts. She formulates a plan B that excludes the spare bedroom, and recites a mantra from the podcast, “I’m only human; whatever needs to get done will be here tomorrow.”
It’s 2:15, and in an hour Sarah will pick up Johnny and Lucy from school and take them to their respective practices. She has plenty of time to prepare a snack for them, and she thinks, “Oh, and maybe I can squeeze in a few phone calls for the silent auction dog groomer. Well, at least I can make a list of dog groomers, and call them tomorrow in between training sessions.”
If this sounds anything like your life, then you’re exactly why Juggle Source was born. The idea that “it will be there tomorrow,” is exactly what we don’t want! Imagine that we had that attitude about ten things, no, let’s say five, or even better, let’s say one thing, a day! If each of those things gets postponed until tomorrow, whether it’s ten, five, or one thing a day, that’s a whole lotta stuff accumulating, piling up in that spare bedroom, your hallway, your head and your heart.
PosiTEEV is right. We are only human and we can only do so much. It’s precisely the reason that Juggle Source partners with its customers and tackles those To Do lists. But Juggle Source disagrees with PosiTEEV, and wants to help you remove those things that are here to day, so they are not here tomorrow!
Next up… Just because we can, doesn’t mean we should.