Springtime is a fantastic time of year. Spring literally bursts with life and promise and growth. It’s impossible for some of that feeling not to rub off on you!
This makes it an ideal time to take stock of our lives, of where we and our kids are today and where we want to be tomorrow. Just as in our gardens, we can plant the seeds now for the dreams we hope to realize in the future.
I’m going to try to take advantage of this positive, optimistic feeling to pause (if I can!) and consider if what I’m doing is actually purposeful. Do you ever have that sense that you’re like a hamster in a wheel, constantly in motion but not getting anywhere? We’re all so busy, but is everything we’re doing necessary? Is it good for us and our children? It is helping us get where we want to go?
It’s the perfect time of year to do some Spring cleaning – not of our homes, although goodness knows they can use it too, but of our everyday lives. What’s the sense of being busy, busy, busy from morning to night, unless there’s a meaningful reason behind what we’re doing?
Sometimes we get so busy that we never take the time to consider if what we’re doing is even worth the time and effort we’re putting into it. For example, in the past I’ve taken freelance editing jobs that were extremely time-consuming but paid very little. Was that a good use of my time? Of course not. So when the opportunity came along recently to do that work again, I passed it by. We need to pick and choose our activities carefully because our time, energy and money all have their limits.
This reminds me of something that my ADHD coach told me. He said that it’s always better to underpromise and then overdeliver. In other words, instead of biting off more than we can sanely chew and then disappointing those we’ve promised, bite off a smaller piece instead. If it turns out that you’re able to do more, then everyone will be pleasantly surprised, including you.
So stop and take a look at where your and your kids’ efforts are focused. Are your activities moving you forward? Are they good for you and good for them, or are you all racing exhaustedly from one overcommitment to the next, losing your joy for living in the process?
Spring’s the perfect time to inspect your home garden. Examine your lives to determine if the things that consume your family are helping you to grow – spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. Make sure that your busy-ness isn’t overrun with weeds that choke off true opportunities for healthy growth and change.
Plan your beautiful family garden now. Your children’s blossoming is too important to leave to chance. And remember: the gardener needs to be nurtured too.