surviving to thriving: holding pattern

For too long, I’ve been stuck in this sort of holding pattern. With family and work, jobs and children, dinner and housekeeping, friendships and faith, I feel like I can’t ever quite get where I desire to be in those areas.

Do I come close? Certainly.

Am I really good at a few of those things at some point? Absolutely!

I have a real tendency to get fixated on something and give that one thing my all, for a little while. Until I see that it means I’m letting something else fall behind, so I hurry over to that area of my life, get it all together, only to find I’ve let the ball drop somewhere else.

I’d mention these things to friends or family, and I would always get the standard, give yourself grace. Here’s where you shouldn’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in the beauty of grace, and I think there are times in life when I need it for myself and I need to extend it to other people. I love how Paul teaches about grace in Romans, the gift of grace is such a precious piece of my faith. From his words, it’s clear that my acceptance in Christ does not excuse careless living.

And give yourself grace is always followed by something in my life that might be holding me back. You just had a baby. It’s a busy time at work. You have two children. You’re pregnant. You have a lot on your plate right now. Not to discredit those things or any other thing you might have going on in your life right now, but isn’t there always going to be something? A new job or a move, a new baby or huge milestone in your childs life, work obligations and a home to manage.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized, there will forever be something that I could use as an excuse to continue to stay in this holding pattern. It was the thought of another year, or month, or week, or day passing while I was tirelessly trying to keep my head above water, that made me finally seek a change.

Not for anyone else, but for myself.

The truth is, this life is short and uncertain it passes so quickly. My biggest regret would be spending these days waiting on the next season, the season I would get it together, the season things would be easier. All the while, letting moments and relationships pass me by.

Here’s the thing about this series, when I planned it, I decided I wanted it to be more than just words. I believe we make authentic change by doing, not by reading or even knowing.  So instead of just telling you about what I did, I’m going to go through the process, and show you real-life examples of how we made big changes.

I started with facing my struggles head-on. Writing them on paper made me feel like I was really facing the things I tried to sweep under the rug for so long.

I also noticed many of these things could be solved if I would not only plan, but execute my plans. My follow-through was lacking and I was spending a great deal of precious time getting things together, that should have been together. Remember what I said about organized chaos? Well, this confirmed it. Sure we were getting there, sure the house was clean when anyone came over, but it was taking time away from other precious things. This also confirmed the clutter and lack of structure for our things only added to the struggle.

My common excuse was time, which leads us to tomorrows post, time.

Below you’ll find the link to the downloadable worksheet, you can print it out and write on it, or type in the text fields, whichever you prefer. 

Surviving to Thriving page 1 Excuses

(Click on the link, it will take you to another page where you click again on the same link to open, not sure why it takes you through the additional step.)