sharpening the saw

i learned a really important lesson from this book that i finally finished.

anyways-in the very end of the book they talk about 'sharpening the saw' which is just an analogy to taking care of all four aspects of yourself on a regular basis. these four areas are:

1) spiritual

2) mental

3) emotional/social

4) physical

how well are you at taking EQUAL care of all of these areas at your life? cause i suck at that. i am really good at devoting mostly all of my energy towards one so i can do it perfectly, yet always fall short. thus my perfectionist tendencies and martyr syndrome are equally fed. but that's another post entirely.

so the analogy is this, a man/woman walks into the woods and finds another man/woman cutting down a tree. "what are you doing?" asks the man. "what do you think i'm doing? i'm cutting down this tree!" he replies. "how long have you been at it? you look exhausted!" states the man. "i've been doing this all day! and it's taking forever!" he barks back. "well, why don't you take your saw out and sharpen it so it will go faster?" he asks. "what? i don't have time to stop sawing and sharpen it. i have to keep cutting down this tree!"

 and that in a nutshell is me. ever since i had phoebe and was physically/mentally able to work out, read good literature, go on dates, visit with friends, and pray and meditate my reply is "I'M TOO TIRED!", "I DON'T HAVE ANY TIME!", "I CAN BARELY TAKE CARE OF THE KIDS/HOUSE AS IT IS!" and i am sitting there, unable to make the small amount of time to sharpen that saw so as to be able to cut down the tree faster and easier. now, i am not discounting the fact that yes, 3 kids makes you more exhausted than you ever thought possible. and having a newborn in the winter is the worst possible scenario ever, besides having a sick newborn in the winter. and to top it off i have extremely high expectations of myself.

but the point of all this is: i don't have to do it all of it perfectly. i don't have to become a scripture scholar overnight, or cook only local organic healthy meals, or finally be able to understand dostoevsky or run 6 miles or start a bunko club. i can find small goals that work for me, every week that i can do to work on ALL of these areas. and i can't ignore any of them completely, because that will slowly drain out the other ones. and  i knew and have learned all of this before, but it was just the swift kick in the pants that i needed. that and some lovely and thoughtful advice from other caring friends.

so this morning, i said my personal prayers and then in the midst of laundry piles and dirty carpet i put in my post-pregnancy workout video, (don't laugh, it is hard) and worked out.  the girls griped and complained for awhile & then realized i was not budging so they joined in for some of it. and abby so graciously commented when i wasn't doing it right or stopped for a break.

and i'm telling, you it made a tremendous difference. i felt so good in fact that i let the girls do a craft. and any mom will tell you that that causes more headache and mess than just keeping them in the basket up on top of the fridge.

 

and i made other goals but i don't have to share EVERYTHING on this blog now do i?