Lately, I have felt my life is a runaway train that I am trying my hardest to keep from flying off the tracks!

Events are happening so fast and so many things demand my attention that I can’t see clearly.  When I try to focus on anything besides what is right in front of me, it seems a blur.   My thoughts and my energy are all concentrated on the here and now.  Tomorrow’s problems have to be dealt with tomorrow.  The urgent and immediate are requiring all my attention.  This is not a good place in which to be but it is a place where many of us find ourselves at different points in our lives. 

We aren’t always directly responsible for what we are experiencing.  Sometimes it is life’s circumstances that put us in positions where it is easy to feel overloaded. On Holy Thursday my teenage son broke his kneecap playing basketball.  Just that one incident changed my life dramatically for the following eight weeks.  I made extra trips to and from school each day because he and his wheelchair had to be helped in and out of the car.  This alone added two hours in the car every day for me.  Doctor’s appointments and physical therapy consumed several more hours each week   All of a sudden, I had a child who needed help with even such simple tasks as getting in and out of bed.  Needless to say he was no longer doing his regular chores around the house and I had to figure out how to pick up that slack. With all of this added to what I was already doing (which, by the way, was too much), a train wreck seemed imminent. I knew I had to get a grip and regain control. 

I always return to four essential areas in order to get my life back on track. If these four areas are under control I receive a sense of accomplishment and the momentum to move forward in other areas. With confidence I can move forward on other projects knowing that  the essential areas taken care of.    I can again start running my life instead of allowing the circumstances in my life to run me.

1.  Laundry – Get the laundry done on a regular basis.  If the laundry isn’t getting done there are inevitable outbursts from family members that increase my stress and anxiety level.  

2.  Meal Planning – Have a plan.   

•    Grocery Shopping – Set aside a specific time to go grocery shopping.   I hate wasting time going to the grocery store for things I didn’t pick up the first time.
•    Keep an ongoing Grocery List. As you run out of items write them down so you won’t forget them.
•    Plan meals ahead of time. Plan your meals and list the groceries you will need to make those meals.
•    Have meal ideas or recipes handy. Write down a rotating menu of your favorite meals.  Be sure to use a great recipe indexing system like the “My Recipe Finder” system so you can find your recipes quickly and easily.
•    Make time to prepare meals.  When you know what you are making, it is easier to allow the necessary time to get the meal prepared.  Sometimes it is better to make the dinner meal early in the day and pop it in the oven later on.  There is no rule that says you have to prepare dinner after 5:00!  Tip:  Think about dinner at breakfast.

3.  Paperwork – Get Control of your Paperwork.  Have a mail basket to separate your unopened mail from your other paperwork.

•    Mail – Open your mail regularly.  It can be costly if you fail to open your mail on a regular basis.
•    Finances – Pay bills on time.  Make sure your bills are getting paid on time and you are aware of how your money is being spent.  A simple spreadsheet with a list of regular bills and their due dates can be a tremendous aid in making sure you have paid the monthly bills on time.
•    Calendar – Use one central calendar for the entire family.  As you open your mail update the calendar with important dates and events.
•    Create a “To Do” Pile /File – As you open your mail you will run across things you will have to add to your to do list.  Make a master list of things you need to do and the date on which you want to complete each task.  Attach it to your Pile/File.  Mark your deadlines on your calendar!  Don’t avoid creating deadlines for your to do list.  Remember, you are setting the deadlines to provide measurable goals for yourself and you can change them! 

4.  Prayer Support – Make the time to be with people who will support you and pray for you.  Make the time to spend with the Lord who loves you more than you can imagine. 

•    Prayer – Ask God if you are doing the right thing.  When I am on a runaway train, my prayer for help is often too focused on my own feelings of desperation. I seldom take the time to make sure that I am doing what the Lord wants me to be doing. When I put the Lord’s will at the center of my prayer I am more focused, efficient, and peaceful.
•    Christian Friends – Find Christian Friends.   It is the support and encouragement I receive from my Christian friends that really sustains me.  I have been blessed with a group of women that I meet with each week. We share our joys, our sorrows and our needs, pray together and encourage one another.  I pray you will also find a person or a group that you can turn to when you need encouragement and support.  There are some great people that love God out there and you can find them if you look for them. 
 I am often asked questions like: “How do you do it?”, “How do you handle everything and seem so calm?”  My life, like yours, is full and rich.   It does get overwhelming and crazy.  But I try to stick to a plan and above all else I seek God’s blessing and intervention.

What are some things that you do to keep  your life on track?

Sandra Forbes is a professional organizing coach specializing in family management.  She and her husband and 7 children live in Vienna, Virginia.  You can learn more about her at ForbesOrganizing.com
Comments:
Your first sentence describes my life the last six months. I've known that I need to get things back in control, just wasn't sure how to begin. This is a plan and a way to help me get started. Thanks so much for sharing.
Eat chocolate! Just kidding, but I do make sure when life is crazy that I am eating healthy and try to get enough rest.
You offer some great ideas to help put order into our busy lives. Prayer is essential. I also try to make sure that the main rooms of the house have one place for my eyes to rest that is neat and orderly... so I keep a table cloth on the kitchen table with a simple centerpiece. A basket of fruit or vase of flowers works well. While my bedroom may look like a hurricane just passed through it, I try to make the bed each day. The family room may be full of toys, shoes and books but the coffee table and couch are kept neat. Simple suggestions that bring a sense of order and peace to my life.
Even as we speak (er, type)there are several large mounds of unfolded, unsorted laundry in the bedroom. The laundry is calling me...but, gosh, I would rather do something else!
Thanks! A tip from my amazingly organized sister-in-law is to regularly do certain chores on certain days if at all possible. For example, Monday is grocery shopping day, Tuesday is floor mopping day, etc. Another tip from Liz S. that got me through many a day is for when you have YOUNG CHILDREN at home. In addition to keeping the house tidy, you must do only these four things daily to be "doing your job well":
-Read to your child
-Play with your child
-Do one 'big' chore
-Make dinner
Keeps priorities straight, doesn't it?


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