I have no doubt about it; I am living outside my limits. Oh
I am busy all right, but not busy with the right things. I wonder then, if in
some way I am wasting my precious time (and life) by living outside my limits.
I joined the 15 Habits of Great Writers Series and today the
challenge was believe. Believe that you are a writer and wake up 2 hours before
you usually do so you can write. I panicked.
I can tell you this is going to be a problem, I will not be
able to follow through with the challenge. It is not just because I like to
sleep, or because I am not a morning person. No, the problem runs much deeper
than that. I already don’t get enough sleep, and it has nothing to do with my
children or the household chores that need to be done. My kids are great
sleepers and I don’t do chores. Okay, I do minimal amount of chores to keep my
family afloat, but I have become lazy. No, my problem runs deeper than that.
The problem is I live outside my limits and I lack a good measure of discipline.
Do you live outside your limits? Here are some thoughts for
you to consider:
Are you always busy?
Do you have a hard time saying no?
Do you forget things easily?
Do you blame others for the things that go wrong in your
life?
Do you commit to things and struggle to follow through?
Do you spend enough quality time with the people that you
love and matter to you?
Do you get angry easily?
Do you get anxious easily?
Do you get depressed easily?
Do you crave junk food?
Do you feel as if life happens to you rather than making
life happen?
Do you get enough sleep? (If not, why not?)
Do you feel you are constantly trying to catch up with your
responsibilities?
Are you often tired?
Do you feel lazy and leave things “for later”?
Are you merely surviving?
Do you have time to do the things you love?
Do you know what fuels your soul and gives you life? (If you
do, do you have time for those?)
Do you take care of your body? (healthy diet and exercise)
Do you have free time?
How often do you finish a day and think to yourself, “well
done”?
I don’t want to live life outside my limits, I want to enjoy
life to the fullest. I don’t want to spend hours checking my e-mail, facebook,
and twitter. Sure, I can justify saying I enjoy it, I get to connect with
people, but mostly, social media and my endless hours behind a screen rob me of much more than they give. (<--click to tweet)
I won’t be getting up 2 hours earlier to write. Instead, I
am taking my life back! And if you live outside your limits, maybe you can join
me and take yours back too! I want to live life, and live it to the fullest.
What will this look like for me? I think it means I need to
live intentionally, and I will work on what that means for me and share this
with you tomorrow.
Will you join me?
Linking to:
Life Unmasked
Women Living Well
Word Filled Wednesday
Works for Me Wednesday
Soli Deo Gloria
Just Write
On Your Heart Tuesdays
No Ordinary Blog Hop
Linking to:
Life Unmasked
Women Living Well
Word Filled Wednesday
Works for Me Wednesday
Soli Deo Gloria
Just Write
On Your Heart Tuesdays
No Ordinary Blog Hop
My thoughts are... I will not be getting up 2 hours earlier either! ha... When I read that I thought.. umm, not me!
ReplyDeleteI will make it a point to write more during the day, during my non existent down time.
I think I'll do more like set a word count goal. we already write daily, mostly, for our blogs.
Thank you for all of your encouragement. I was pleased to see you with the same reaction I had today :)
If you have non-existent time now, when will you make the time? I find that writing at night is my best writing, or during Nichole's nap time, but soon she will be done with that!
DeleteThis is such a good point. I often live outside my limits, taking on too much, not prioritizing. Though I would love to find out more about the writing challenge you had started:) Visiting from www.toshowthemjesus.com
ReplyDeleteDid you click on the link or on the previous post I had? It is not always a writing challenge for your blog, but think of it as little lessons to learn more about the craft of writing. I will definitely stop by.
DeleteHi Ellen,
ReplyDeleteI joined the 15 Habits of Great Writers Series, too, a couple days ago. I, too, was shocked when I read the challenge two get up two hours earlier to write! It's only for one morning, so I decided to play along.
What I really wanted to say was your comment about taking your life back resonated with me. There are so many pulls to live outside our limits and taking control of the things we can control will make those things we can't easier to handle, don't you think?
Well...guess I better get to bed alittle earlier tonight. Sleep well. :-)
Yes, I am constantly tired because I do not get enough sleep. I think my problem is that I am a night owl and that is the only time I really have "unlimited time" to write. Unfortunately, I also use that time to check e-mail, facebook, blogs, etc.
DeleteI can relate, i'm so into social media that sometimes i forget i have more important things to do.
ReplyDeleteBut yes like you, im going to take my life back.. And to do so, i need to reduce my time behind the screen, starting now.
Thank you for the wake up call.
Hope you keep that up! The hardest thing for me is to "stick with it" I can do fine for a while but then I am back into old habits.
DeleteI just joined the group in the wee hours of the early morning. I was up way to late. I don't think I made it to bed until 5am. So, I am not sure if that disqualifies me for the challenge or not. But anyhow, I hear what you are saying here.
ReplyDeleteI pulled back this month on writing as many blog posts. It doesn't mean I wills stop writing, just that in all the pouring out, I feel like I am left on empty sometimes. It is giving me some breathing room.
Thanks for sharing! I'll be seeing you :)
You went to bed really late!
DeleteYou know, I really do think out best writing comes from a rested soul. I don't think you need to blog every day. We can only give what we have, and when we are empty, we cannot really give at all. Thanks for that reminder!
I did the two hours earlier for years! It works! Now my mantra is, "I'll do better tomorrow!" Thank you for sharing on NOBH!
ReplyDeleteDiane, did you have small children? For me it is so difficult to have a real set time with my girls.
Delete