How Many Plates Are You Spinning? Fall. In some parts of the country the weather does not change much with the calendar, but we still differentiate between summer and fall. Most of us run on a school year schedule whether we have kids in school or not. How many times have you heard someone say—or said yourself—something like this? • “Summer is so unpredictable. We’ll get back on track in the fall.” • “It’s hard to get people together in the summer because of everyone’s vacations.” • “I’m running out of ideas to do with the kids. I’ll be glad when school starts!” Even around the Church Health Center we’re mindful of the school year. We run a preschool and welcome new children for the school year. We welcome new clinic assistants and interns for the new school year. And yes, we too have employees and volunteers who take time off during the summer. But does the arrival of fall really solve anything? Or do we merely lurch our way toward the holidays so we can have a break from the routine we waited for all summer? After Christmas we hunker down and wait for graduations and end-of-school parties. And then it’s summer. It seems to me that for most of us the plates just keep spinning. As you get a grip on what a fall schedule means for you and your household, let me challenge you to intentionally create hooks to hang your schedule on for the sake of your wellness. Here are some ideas. 1. Anticipate meals. Most of us don’t literally skip meals; we eat something even if it is processed cardboard. But what we do is skip planning meals. I don’t make light of anyone’s busyness, but we are each responsible for how we spend the same 24 hours a day. Don’t get too busy for nutritious meals as a family or with the people important in your life. Plan and shop for meals you can anticipate with pleasure, not dread. Don’t eat regret day after day. 2. Rest! That includes preparing to sleep. Maybe you give your kids a bath and a story to get them ready to sleep. What do you to do get yourself ready to sleep? The truth is no one is ever going to be a sainted martyr because he or she was too busy or wound up to sleep. Whatever you claim to achieve while in a state of chronic sleep deprivation probably will have to be redone, whether by you or someone else. After a certain point you are not being productive no matter how long you sit and stare at a project—and that point comes sooner than you might think. 3. Be present. Multitasking is hugely overrated—and not even true. When you think you are doing more than one thing at the same time, actually your brain is simply rapidly switching back and forth between tasks. In other words, your brain is subject to unrelenting interruption, distraction, and reorienting. And that amounts to a constant risk that one of those plates you’re trying to keep spinning is going to crash and you can’t move fast enough to catch it. Be present in whatever you are doing in order to do it well. Lamentations 3:23–23 tell us, “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” Whatever the challenges are for your fall schedule, God’s promise to be faithful does not waver. God is not too busy for you. God’s mercy toward you never runs out; don’t let mercy toward yourself run thin. Hang your schedule on hooks of wellness. (This is from my blog. You can read more articles like this at churchhealthcenter.org/drscottmorrisblog)
Posted on: Mon, 26 Aug 2013 13:26:05 +0000
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