I told you I would say more about why it’s been so long since I have written. Well, overcommitted and overwhelmed says everything. I have discovered the hard way that you can say yes to too many things that you are passionate about.I have been learning to play piano, something I have always wanted to do. And I am leader of my daughter’s Girl Scout troop. Having a troop of five 8th grade girls is amazing! But what did I do? When I volunteered our troop to put on the Fall Kick-off I had no idea what I was getting into. Then I didn’t check my schedule and planned it for the same day as my piano recital! That was a crazy, stressful day. Then I agreed to be a confirmation mentor and I’m taking a class at CU and I sing in the Messiah. And I’m building a private practice. What was I thinking?!

I was thinking about the things I’m passionate about. Each one of those things is important to me for specific reasons. I’m good at saying no to things that I’m not passionate about. But sometimes we have to say no to things we are passionate about. It’s not easy to make a choice between things you really care about.

So Fall Kick-off was a great success. The first to pieces of my recital were very good and I totally blew the third, but nobody seemed to mind. Then came this past weekend. I really wanted to attend all the sessions of a conference of mental illness and spirituality. But I didn’t. Instead I took a hard look at my stress level (which was so over the top I was even yelling at Maverick) and what I could do to make it better. My house was filthy and my home office a mess. So Saturday I enlisted slave labor (Richard and Malaika) to help me clean the house. My home office was so bad you couldn’t even walk in it. So I attended only two session of the conference and after church yesterday, I sent Malaika to a friend’s house and sent Richard and Maverick upstairs to watch the football game. And I cleaned and filed and picked-up until almost 10:00.

Guess what? You already know the answer, don’t you? By the time I was done, my stress level was way down. I had a clean house again. And early this morning when I had my quite time, I could go into my office and not trip over things. I could even find the checkbook without having to move a bunch of papers. Yes, I had to give up something I’m passionate about, but in the long run it’s worth it.