Taking on too much – Learning to say NO in your Homemaking
Learning to say NO, when appropriate, in your homemaking is the first step in gaining back control of your home. Learning to say no, and not taking on too much, can transform the way that you run your household and manage your family.
Welcome to part two of our online book study of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. It’s not too late to jump in and join the fun! You can read the introduction and see the full schedule of topics for the next 10 weeks. Today we will be talking about learning how to say no, and on Thursday we will jump into crafting your own personal priorities list!
As a homemaker, a wife, a mom, a blogger and a Christian, I have a hard time saying NO to serving, blogging opportunities, and things that make me feel like a “good homemaker.” Things like baking fresh delicious homemade treats for Bible study group or offering to bake a cake for a babyshower. I put so much pressure on myself to be “perfect” and do everything that I “should” do…that I take on too many things. This means that I’m not really doing anything in my life well, I’m just jumping from thing to thing – trying to stay above water and survive.
Do you struggle with this?
The first step to gaining back control over your life, your home, and your homemaking – is to start saying NO. But I know, I know…that’s a lot easier said than done.
Learning to Say NO
This has been one of the biggest struggles in learning how to better manage my home – and my life. I struggle because I want to be everything to everyone. I want to be supermom, blogger of the year, and Martha Stuart all rolled into one perfectly fashionable-always-looks-cute woman. And yet, obviously, I can’t be everything. There are only so many days in each week, only so many hours in each day, and only so many minutes in each hour.
If you have gotten to the point where you feel like you are just in survival mode, going from day to day, barely treading water. Then this is the first step. Realizing that you need to cut back on certain things so you can focus on what really matters (and what really matters to YOU and YOUR family – not what matters to someone ELSE).
“I didn’t make any outward changes yet, but my mind-set started changing. I stopped believing the lies that I could do it all, be it all, and have it all. I just wanted to be free again – free from the rat race, free from the burden of feeling that I had to say yes to everything, free from the pressure of trying to be perfect. I wanted to be free to enjoy life.
Though I had a long way to go to find total freedom, I had taken the first step.” ~ Crystal Paine, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, pg 5.
Exercising Your NO Muscle
Learning to say no is like exercising any other muscle of your body, the more you say it, the easier it will become. On Thursday we will walk through the challenge together of creating a personal and family priorities list. When each new event, opportunity, or obligation comes up, you can then compare it to your personal priorities list.
If it fits in with your priorities for your family, then feel free to say yes! If it doesn’t, you have the beautiful freedom of being able to say NO and feel good that you are doing the right thing for your family! There is beautiful relief in knowing that you no longer have to feel guilty for saying no to things – instead you can find relief in knowing that you made the right decision for your family!
“There are things you can do, starting today, that will help bring you sanity, joy, and purpose back into your life. When you are stretched, frazzled, overwhelmed, and spent from following packed schedules, tackling never-ending to-do lists, and being pulled in every direction, you need margin. You need to eliminate certain things from your life that will give you breathing room.” ~ Crystal Paine, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, pg 12.
This Week’s Challenge
If you are reading the book with us, then read the first chapter of Say Goodbye to Survival Mode. Then take the next few days to really start thinking about all those extra things that you take on. All those things that stress you out and cause you to feel like you are just trying to survive form one day to the next.
On Thursday we will be going through an exercise to help you actually define your personal and family priority list so that you can start saying NO to the things that don’t matter!
Read More In This Series:
- The 10 Week Schedule for our Online Book Study
- Taking the First Step in Gaining Control of Your Home
- Taking on Too Much – Learning To Say NO in Your Homemaking {You are here}
- Creating a Personal Priorities List – For your Life and Homemaking
- Determining How You Should Spend Your Time as a Homemaker
- Creating a Manageable Routine & Schedule as a Homemaker
- Setting Goals in your Home so you can Stay on Task & Focused!
- How to Turn Your Homemaking Goals into a Reality
- Learning Self-Discipline Must First Start with Christ
- Come back for more – every Tuesday & Thursday!
5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day
Free PDF Guide & Training Video!
If you want to take this concept further and jump into how you can plan for a successful day (and what that even means), then I want to invite you to sign up for my FREE video and PDF guide 5 Keys to Planning a Successful Day.
Sign up and you can start going through it right away! Join me to chat about how, with a few simple tips, we can start living with more intention. It might seem overwhelming to work on being more intentional and purposeful in your schedules and to-do list. But in reality, it takes just a few minutes to begin transforming your routines with 5 simple steps…
