Doing It All

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I've started this post several times, and the words haven't come to me until this week. I originally planned on sharing the final post in my series about planning my year this week, but every time I pulled it up it felt forced. It feels a little scattered, but here's my heart of this issue of asking how people get it all done.

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As I've asked people what they'd like to hear or see from me in this space, I've gotten one request more than any other: How do I do it all?

I'd love to give you a million "how to" blogs on how I run our business, keep our family happy and healthy and educated, keep my relationship with my husband/business partner healthy, etc, but here's how I do it. I live in two camps: I don't do it all, or I do it all and I'm physically sick.

Those who know me, know me as an enneagram one mover and shaker with lots of ideas and motivation and drive. I do things. I get things done. I dream big and chase new ideas. It takes a lot to slow me down. And while my relationship with the Lord has grown over the last few years of owning our business, we are still almost constantly in this fight of going and doing and moving or resting, recovering, slowing down.

In my mind, slowing down is not good. It's failure. Unless it's chosen by me, with a timeline for when I can get up and moving again.

But I'm experiencing a health crisis, and this is one I can't push through. God knew if my eczema was on my back, I would keep going. But to physically take away my palms, my ability to type and paint and lift things and cook for my family, He knew I couldn't work through that.

I've had multiple health issues over the last few years including several foot surgeries and food intolerances, and I've always resolved to slow down, to take better care of myself, but once I was feeling well again, I'd be off and moving. I actually had the visual recently that I feel like I'm running as hard as I can while someone is walking behind me holding onto my shirt.

But I think I need a narrative shift. I can still do it all, and do it all really well, as long as "all" is in alignment with what God would have for me at this point.

So this is not a How To Get It All Done blog post. It's not a How I Do It All thing. It's a woman who is broken and incomplete and in need of Jesus sharing her heart. This is the before. This is Sara learning new things. As I type this, my jaw is tense and my neck hurts. I had a migraine this week as well as an eczema flare up worse than I've had since I began AIP. I wanted to blame food so badly, but when it came down to it, I had an extremely stressful day, I blew up at Josh, I yelled at children, and I only slowed down when I realized my headache was headed straight for a migraine.

Logically, I know "doing it all" is really just being really good at setting and sticking to your values and priorities. And I'm mostly there, I am good at saying no when asked to do something that doesn't align with my main goals in this stage of life. But when the things I do have in my life get crazy, things come up, or my schedule gets too full, I'm not good at regulating that stress.

When I look at how to make this area of my life better, I think the three key words that I've built this brand around really clearly cover the areas that need constant, balanced attention.

You'll see these themes coming back as I talk about kid chores, homeschooling, entrepreneurship, mom life, and husband/wife/business partner life. I'll try my hardest to stay accountable in this space. But goodness, let's stop putting so much pressure on ourselves and others to do it all. No one is doing it all, and it's rather damaging when you allow yourself to think that you need to do it all or that someone else is getting everything done. We all have dishes in our sink and dust on top of our ceiling fans.