"How do you do it all?" I used to hear this question all the time. My reaction was to shrug it off with a smile and think that I was indeed doing it all. I was a successful business owner, wife, and mother of four. However, what I didn’t understand at the time was that you really can’t do it “all.” Something always gives. You make daily choices and those choices ultimately show where your heart is and where you are building your future.
As we all look to a new year, I challenge you to look through your life and ask these tough questions:
- What choices do you make daily?
- What do these choices show about where your heart is?
- Is that really where you want your heart to be?
As a business owner, I had a terrible time delegating my responsibilities even to the most trusted person. It was my business so of course, I was the best person to accomplish it all. However, what started falling through the cracks was the thing that meant the most to me–my family.
If you have a lot on your plate, take serious inventory of your life on a professional and personal level. I think too many people try to segment those two out, but the truth is that they bleed together and cannot be separated. Ask yourself these questions:
- What do you LOVE to do?
- What cannot be done by someone else?
- What do you HATE to do?
- What can you hand off to someone else to do?
This inventory should help you distinguish what has to stay on your plate and what you need to give to someone else.
Women’s Liberation was a very monumental and important step for women in this nation, however, with it came a lot of pressure. Now that the sky’s the limit, women today think that they have to do it all–earn a diploma, find Mr. Right and get married, hold a successful career, birth babies, raise the next generation, cook gourmet dinners, polish the furniture, snow blow the driveway, keep physically fit, and drink Starbucks (I had to add that!). I’m here to tell you that you don’t have to do it all. You do have choices and feel the freedom of making those choices. Follow your heart–whether that’s your career, your family, your friendships, your faith, or your coffee fix.
I may be all wrong, but I don’t believe that I can do it all anymore. And honestly, I don’t want to. The cost is too high. I can now admit that I can’t do it all and I say it with a smile.
Written by: Stephanie TeSlaa excels at using both the right and left sides of her brain, and that’s exactly what makes her so special. Stephanie calls Hudsonville home and is a lover of numbers and also a talented photographer.
