A dirty little four letter word...

We all know the usual four letter words that are banned on network TV, and our 10 year old boys will blurt out just to see our reaction, but there is one four letter word that I am eliminating from my vocabulary... BUSY! Ask any mom, dad, single lady, person on the street- how are you? and I am willing to bet the answer is "busy".

Being BUSY is a great excuse for just about anything... I can't work out- too busy. Sorry I didn't call you back- too busy. I want to run a 5K- too busy.

Is there something that you really want to do, but find yourself saying I am too busy?
To me, busy implies lack of focus, overwhelmed, never having a moment of peace. I am not suggesting that we do no work, pull our kids out of activities, and not clean the house. What I am suggesting is that we learn to focus our energy on what is important. Just as a disclaimer, I have not mastered this art- I am a work in progress.

• What are your priorities? Identify them and commit to them. My husband is a great example of creatively fitting exercise into his day. He decided about 6 months ago that he would exercise 20 minutes a day- no matter what! In order to make that happen, he has had to be flexible in what defines exercise. On cold nights it meant walking up and down the stairs; sometimes it was a walk during his lunch hour. Now that it has warmed up, he walks/ runs outside and almost always has one kid with him.
• Learn to say "no". If you are the mom who is the room mom, committee head, PTO president elect, you are allowed to say "no". I believe in volunteering, but there comes a point when you are spread too thin.
  
• Learn to live in the moment- Kids are great examples to follow. I love watching my kids when they are completely engaged in an activity. Sometimes I will catch my daughter playing with Barbies and for the moment, she has brought them to life. I try not to break the magic spell that she has cast.
• Understand that you are not superwoman, and that is ok. I don't know if you remember the ad about a woman who can bring home the bacon, fry it up in a pan... This ad suggests that a woman can work full time, cook a complete meal, and have the energy to "never let you forget you're a man". Any woman that is doing two of those three is pretty amazing. A woman who is doing all three deserves a gold medal!
  

Rather than live a busy life, I am going to work on living a full life; Full of moments of laughter and love.