Expectations

I took a break from Facebook starting on February 14th. I didn’t miss it. That was intentional. Also on February 14th, I started an unintentional break from walking and from writing blog posts. In this time period of the last 6 weeks, I’ve had an opportunity to think about that word expectation for a while.

There’s really 2 expectations. The expectations you place on yourself and the expectations others place on you. I want to unpack that aspect of personal expectations for a bit. In his book “Finish”, my friend Jon Acuff writes about how we make goals for ourselves, the goals may be a bit unrealistic, or something comes up to change that status, and we end up quitting. He talks about it in a lot more detail, but that’s a lot of what happened to me. I quit. I’ll admit that. My excuses were noble. And somewhat legitimate. I got sick for 2 weeks in that time period and still had to keep going with work and life. But what about those other days? Why didn’t I make healthy choices or walk or better manage my time? The honest answer, as I’ve been processing through it is.....I just didn’t want to. But today is a new month. A new start. So what makes today different than any other day? Well, it’s Easter. That means that my 6 week period of Lenten busyness is over. So what? That will be replaced by end of school busyness was a parent, preparing my musical groups for a concert in May, working with my team to plan summer camp in July and many, many more things to do. On top of that, God willing, we’ll be finding a house to purchase, so we’ll have to pack up, move and get settled in the midst of all of that. I’m guessing that while you may not be in the specific boat that I’m in, your schedule is busy, too. So how do you balance and manage those expectations and that schedule?

I come back to one word again and again. Organization. If you’re on top of things and deal with them immediately, you will be less overwhelmed. Again, that’s something I haven’t done well, not just over the past 6 weeks, but for years. I know I’m capable of it, but it’s a matter of doing it. Organization is simple things like dealing with mail immediately, cleaning your kitchen counters before you go to bed, doing dishes and putting them away, doing laundry and putting it away immediately. Those things may seem simple, but after a long day, you may not have the “want to” to do it. You’ve got to do it. Of course, there’s the bigger things like going through your clothes, books, digital files, etc. and while that takes more time, it is most definitely helpful and worth it.

One of the things I did on Friday at my desk before I left was to make sure that the top of it was picked up and organized. That way, after my hibernation tomorrow, I can dive into things on Tuesday and not have to be stressed about starting with my desk.

Over the next couple of weeks I’ll be dealing with this topic of organization and what it looks like and some simple and easy things to do. I hope you’ll keep checking back and also commenting with your ideas and tips for what works for you!