Who is calling me now?  Yes of course it is important; it’s my job.

“Sure.  I’ll be there at 4:30 PM.”

That was always an expectation.  Somebody called. I answered. I added it to my schedule.  Never mind that I was in the midst of planning a wedding and trying to get my life together so that I could be a good wife to my future husband.  At my old job, the days grew longer as the year progressed. What was supposed to be a 5 p.m. end of the day shift turned out to be a 10 p.m. end of the night shift.  I found life passing me by every day until I had enough. I begin to notice some changes in my life that I was not happy about. Here they are and if you find yourself doing these things I have some advice for you too!

1. You start forgetting important LIFE events- birthdays, anniversaries, special moments, invitations. You get the gist of what I’m saying.  When you forget your girls night out, arrive late to your date, or miss your child’s school concert, something has to give. How in the world could I forget to call my mom on her birthday.  Really Tamika!
2. There is a project left undone in your house.  All that money you spent on those supplies-the paint, the wood, the fabric or whatever it is. The project is now collecting dust.  There is a reason you started a new house project or danced down the aisle in Michael’s when you found the supplies to make those scarves.  It brought a fresh sense of tranquility. A purpose. A new perspective. An accomplishment. What happened?
3. Your car is no longer a car- it’s your clothes closet, powder room and/or office.  I’m so ashamed. This was me. I had a pair of flats, heels, make up bag, and some office supplies in my trunk.  Lunch time with the co-workers…HA! I was praying someone would say “I’ll drive.” Make up in the car driving down I-77.  Someone should have called the cops on me. Y’all know that is SO dangerous but we do it anyway.
4. You have not seen your family in weeks.  Now if you live states away from family, of course this does not apply to you.  BUT for us folk who have family that lives 10 minutes or 30 minutes away, we got some ‘splainin to do.
5. Your bedroom looks like the Goodwill drop-off center.  You’ve separated the color clothes, the casual clothes, the white clothes.  All the clothes are in piles. When you do laundry, you find space in an empty room and pick your clothes out of the laundry piles.  We don’t even iron anymore. Just throw it in the dryer and let the dryer work its magic.
6. Your meals are fast food and on-the-go.  You keep saying you’re going to the grocery store tomorrow. Tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes. Two months later you’re starting to feel the extra pounds pack on, clothes out the the laundry piles don’t fit.  You’re getting frustrated and feeling defeated. Yep. That was me.

Get your life back on track.  For me, it meant leaving work at work.  When the bosses left at 5 p.m., I followed suit.  I started working every day to prioritize what was important.  I created a to do list at work and what didn’t get done was left for tomorrow.  We have to start looking at life from a different lens where we are not working more than we are living.

I have become a scheduler and some folks think that may be sad but it works for me.  My life is a calendar because I have to make sure I’m giving attention to the things that are important to me- my husband, my child, my family, my church, and my hobbies. Try a wall calendar so that you can plan out the month, make notes on the side, and see the month-at-a-glance or how about for free go to Microsoft Word and create a monthly or daily calendar.  We love all things FREE!

As far as family, plan some game nights, dates nights (I need to do this one for real), sports nights, park visits.  Do something. Family first. Enough said.

As for my health, I had to get on a plan and make it work.  We plan our menus and shop weekly according to our meal plans.  Right now we are on a clean eating journey with Dr. Ian Smith’s latest book, The Clean 20.  I love this book because the meals are already planned, the menu options are tasty and the suggested exercises can be done in the comfort of your home.

We get one shot at this thing called life so take some time this week to ponder on the areas in your life that you need to UnBusy so that you can start enjoying life.  Have faith in yourself. You can do it!

Remember, it’s a faith journey y’all.  No matter where you are in the hustle of life, you must have faith.

Tamika W.

P.S. I’m about to tackle these laundry piles.  I suggest you do something too 🙂