I read a SteadyMom post a couple weeks ago and the simple point was that her goal for each day was peace. Simply peace. It was more important than accomplishing lots of things, or making fancy meals, she wanted the motive behind the day’s choices to be a desire for peace.
To be honest, I first sniffed at it a bit because I thought about all the reasons why that’s not possible. Schedules, deadlines, classes, kids in bad moods, parents in bad moods, illness … I can babble on but you get the idea. It’s not realistic, is it? It’s just not possible. Or is it? My excuses sound and look pretty flimsy when listed out like that. Besides …
I simply can’t forget it. It’s been eating at me as I grow impatient with my boys, as my to-do-list grows longer, and my clients (seem, in my imagination,) to be impatient with me. It’s why the header is what it is this month … I went to make an idea board and put it up on the wall just over my laptop screen, but then realized I’ll never see it there anyway, and I can’t avoid it here. So here it is, for all of you to see.
I want more peace in this house. I’m never going to have quiet boys, or dramatically change personalities, but it could be a lot better than it is. And it starts with me. I have to start prioritizing it above other things. The number one competitor for top billing in my priority list is accomplishment. It’s so tied into my psyche that it’s not going to just disappear overnight. It’s a handy thing to have around, that drive to get stuff done, but it often derails the peace train. It often has no reason or right to either. I could put that thing down and pick it up again later. I overpromised on my deadlines again, why? The client didn’t ask for it. I chose it.
What’s the biggest priority that drives your daily decisions and choices? It’s not like there’s one clean cut answer on the tip of your tongue, but if you look back over the last few days, what’s the biggest driving force? I’d love to know. And I’d love to change mine. A banner isn’t going to do it, but it’s me stating my intention, in a way that I have to see every day, in the hopes that I’ll find ways to start tweaking the choices I make minute-by-minute.