Pushing Past Overwhelmingness - Words of Wisdom From a Few Ambitious Women

Can there be LIFE BALANCE?

I have been feeling overwhelmed for a while now; about 2-3 months now.  I believed its because I had too many things going on all at once. During this time I'd think, Well, how does Tyler Perry, Oprah and Shonda Rhimes do everything that they do?  These three are my models; my benchmarks.  I stressed myself to find a way to push past the overpowering feeling of overwhelmingness.  After 2 vacations I still felt overwhelmed and became very unproductive.  I tried listening to inspirational messages from TD Jake's series on "Instinct" and they were good.  Very Good.  Admittedly, they inspired me and that feeling lasted for 2-3 hours after listening to them.  So I prayed.  It wasn't until this past Wednesday that I felt a change leading me back to my normal passionate grind and hustle.  Every Wednesday, I and 3 other very motivated and driven women lead an 1 hour "Girltalk" on Twitter.  I realize that I'd been chosen to lead the chat and that the topic was "The Balancing Act: How to Balance it All!"  "Who? Me?  Why would the group choose me for this topic?  I am not the person to have this conversation with a bunch of driven ambitious women.  I don't even know what probing questions to ask? Grrr"
 
Disclaimer:  I am not usually a person who is unproductive.  I get's things done! Usually, I can work 8 hours, love my husband, teach my kid math, reading, and do an art project, then cook a 3 course dinner, wash and fold 2 loads of clothes, workout, take a few phone calls for leisure, write pages of a script, take a prayer call, then put my son to bed, after bathing and reading him a book.  People have wondered how I get so much done in the day! I believe God stops time for about 4 hours each day; only for me.   Lately, however, I've felt like I've had only 14 hour days.

Thank God I lead this topic!  This weeks, "Girltalk" really helped.  It was my prayer answered.  It was the very thing I needed to feel re-energized and back on point!  Focused!  I want to share with you a few takeaways that helped to re-focus.  Life Coach, Dee Marshall joined in the chat and really had some words of wisdom about living in Harmony and not balance.  She said, "Until you reverse perpetual cycles of disorder, you will experience failure/defeat!"  In fact, just hearing great words of wisdom from all of the women who joined the chat, helped me to change my daily planning!  Dee Marshall said, "Begin with plan according to HIGHEST priorities and evaluating everything based on my gauge, motive and intention and expected outcome!  In my heart, I know I know to prioritize.  But, what I'd been missing lately is gauging what the highest priority is based on timeline.  My good friend and Women of Power, Kristen Pope said, "Each day presents a new set of challenges.  No day is like the last.  I think where I went wrong is by keeping the same list of priorities and not allowing my highest priority to affect what I did each day.  My priorities were changing based on my timelines but I was not changing.  I was making everything a priority.  I was stressing over what I couldn't finish.  I wasn't getting much sleep because I felt like I should be tackling things on my to do list. I was headed for disaster! What many of the ladies said helped me!

In case you are struggling, you can relate to this.  If not, then at least you can understand where I am coming from.  My biggest takeaway is that we must communicate with like minded people when we are struggling with our dreams and passions.  More than likely, people have been through the same thing and some have found resolutions they can pass on to help you!