Priorities.

I've been struggling with what to write about lately, and although it may not seem like it to you, I'm pretty picky about what goes on my blog. Somehow - and this is from a person who used to have zero inner monologue - not all of my thoughts make it here. I don't like to preach, and I'm not much of a teacher, so the lessons I'm learning don't make it here very often. Maybe they should? It might save someone else a lot of time and hassle by learning from my own mistakes.

I have some recipes down the pipeline (and they're good), and some crafts, too - but for a post or two I'll break from those to write about my own actual life.

Considering the fact that I have T-4.5 weeks to the arrival of Babesgirl, I've been trying to focus myself to be very intentional with time: an asset I know will slowly slip away - or, better, change - as our family grows. I'm pseudo self-employed / not-really-self-employed / unemployed / on self-directed mat leave right now (it's confusing - all of the above are true in some respect) so there are some days when I have much too much time on my hands, and some days when 24 hours just isn't enough.

So I started making priority lists.

List after list after list. These are the things I need to do. These are the things I want to do. These are the things I really should do but I neither want to nor feel the need to. A lot of them are in preparation for taking some peace-out time from John's business (getting 2 steps ahead with the administration side - with the arrival of baby will also come tax time... and that is a 2-man job), some of them are along the lines of "you started this craft. finish it, woman, finish it!" and some are for the pure and simple sake of contributing what little I can financially towards our home.

I've found that in making priority lists, not only do I get a lot more done but I feel a lot more accomplished. I don't feel as though I'm floating around in a baby-waiting-continuum... yet I'm not just being a pointless busybody either.

But this good habit - prioritizing - is slowly beginning to spill into other parts of my life, too! I feel more organized, more clear-headed, more accomplished and like I'm able to really consider what matters and what doesn't. Time with God? This matters. Time with friends? This matters. Time on Facebook? That's the opposite. Time getting upset about other people (controlling)? That is cut. Does not matter.

And this slow change has begun with making lists. I hope to continue this prioritizing habit into motherhood, as I want to remind myself daily that we DO have enough time to accomplish what's important in this life. I have no excuses. It's all just about sifting between what is worth my time and energy, and what is not.