After 20 years of trusting my husband to provide for our family financially (but I did help!), our situation suddenly changed. For various reasons, we decided it was time to close our business. We had started our business 17 years earlier and worked hard to build it up. But suddenly, it was over.
Suddenly, I felt very pressured to provide for our family. Which meant that I needed to start working more hours. Which meant that suddenly my schedule was a lot fuller than it used to be.
How do I squeeze everything in? How do I spend time with my children? How do I take time for myself? What do I do?
“If you want something done, ask a busy person.”
Why? Because a busy person likely manages their time wisely.
I had to start managing my time wisely.
So I started doing things I should have been doing all along.
I used to feel annoyed if the children bothered me while I getting certain things done. I wanted time to myself and I just wanted to get things done. But now, I realized the importance of including my children in my daily chores.
Instead of shooing the children away while I was in the kitchen, I started having a cooking helper. Instead of doing my grocery shopping alone, I started taking a shopping helper along with me.
It was fun. They were learning and we were spending time together.
Less Time to Indulge Unpleasant Thoughts
I don’t have time to be as self-focused as I used to be.
Which comes with another benefit: I don’t have time to nurse my depressed and anxious thoughts. I’m a natural worrier. I can really send myself into a tailspin if I just have enough time to let myself really think about everything that either is bad or could become bad in the future.
But now, I just don’t have time to dwell on my thoughts and let them spiral downward! It just doesn’t fit in my schedule. I have to prioritize, and sitting around thinking about everything bad that might happen didn’t make the cut.
I have to focus, and there isn’t room for unhealthy thoughts.
Look on the Bright Side.
“There’s no great loss without some small gain.” I first read that saying in the Little House on the Prairie Books. It’s true. You can always find something good to focus on. Choose to focus on the good.