Have you ever seen a performance on TV, or maybe at a circus, where there’s a man spinning plates on tall sticks? It’s quite a trick! If he doesn’t pay attention to all of them at the same time – one or more will surely go crashing to the ground.
With our busy lives, isn’t it the same for all of us? We’re in a daily struggle to keep all of the areas of our lives running smoothly so that nothing “breaks” from too little attention. Our “plates” are our families, jobs, homes, school, health, leisure, and of course our blogs!
Some days, it’s really hard to keep all those plates spinning! There are times when one of them seems to be wobbling a little more than the others and we want to shift our focus to just that one. The problem is when we take our eyes off of the rest of the plates – they all begin to wobble, too, and then we feel as if we’re running in circles, trying to keep everything going.
I don’t pretend to know the answers, but I sure would like to figure it out. How can we pay attention to all of the important areas (the plates) in our lives at the same time? One solution would be to eliminate a plate or two if possible, but you may say that ALL of yours are necessary. Another idea might be to rotate the plates – so that they all have a chance to spin, but not necessarily at the same time, or on the same day! They could be organized into “groups” according to importance. The family plate is important and has to spin every day, but laundry does not. So you could decide which “less important” plates to add to the daily spin. I think we sometimes get into the habit of thinking we have to do it all at the same time. Instead of trying to keep 8 plates going every single day, maybe having just 4 or 5 in a changing mix of categories would work.
Hmmmm, maybe that’s it! Certain plates spin on certain days! By the end of the week they’ve all had attention – but it was easier to deal with them in small groups than to try and keep the entire bunch going all at once.
I‘ll work on it and get back to you! 😉
In the meantime, what do you do to keep the things in your life balanced? 🙂
I can’t envision this plate business. My mind goes wild. All I can see is your plates filled with stuff and they are all spinning so fast that stuff is flying off all over the place! Like a blender that you forgot to put the lid on.
That must say something about me, but what?
(When I was a kid, I used to daydream about being a dancer, as in Fred and Ginger. My partner and I would be gliding along so beautifully then he would spin me, I lose my grip and go spinning out of control. It happened every time. I tried for a different ending but couldn’t force my mind to think it. I bet this is the same concept as stuff flying off the plates). Something must be wrong with me, lol.
I know exactly what you are saying in this post. It is hard to keep all areas of your life attended to. I am not the one to do this very well. Something suffers. Not family, and not my critters outside or in, mostly those “Homemaker” chores.
wow, great analogy there.
I try not to procrastinate, but it doesn’t always work
Writing everything down helps me
Interesting post… I’m with you, we should to eliminate some plates… And the answer is no, we don’t need all the plates, but sometimes we want too much of them… Time taught me that the most of them aren’t necessary in my life and I try take care of a few, more important for me. I don’t know if I explained me well…
Kisses!
Crystal says: You explained it perfectly, Janil!!
🙂 Kisses!!!
I’ve seen this spinning plate routine and it always make me so nervous!! There are days when I feel like that but I know it will get even crazier when I have kids. Right now I have two jobs, and just got married a year ago so am trying to get my routines under control. We also just bought a house and I’m still trying to get that organized. I keep things together by trying to stay very, very organized. I write everything down and stick to a routine as much as possible.
I absolutely love this post! If you figure it out, please let me know.
Many thanks for the inspirational post. Cindi
I am always juggling. Somedays I feel like I’m doing great – other days I feel like I’ve cheated everybody and everything but I just keep trying. I try to save as much money with coupons and deals so I can stay at home more instead of go to work. On days when I find the flour in the refrig I know I haven’t done a good job of keeping it all together 🙂