Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Priorities


I saw the above pic on one of my favorite blogs a while back;Oh Hello Friend. Oh, Oh no wait.. you thought I was saying hello? Well, Hello but, I wasn't just saying Hello up there that's just the name of the blog, it's called Oh Hello Friend. And I apologize for that very lame attempt to be funny.

Anyway, the blog Oh Hello Friend, It's a great, beautiful, happy space on the World Wide Web and it's author Danni, well she's just about as cute as they come. Really, if you haven't seen it yet, you should do your eyes a favor and head over there, but wait. Not yet.

I wanted to share something with you first, and then you can head over there.

The quote on the picture is of course what caught my eye. It made me stop. It made me pause. It made me Selah.

"You can do Anything, but you can't do Everything."

I believe we have found the theme slogan for recovering 12 step program offered to women, moms, really any "Type A" personality out there. You know who you are, those of you who have tried and failed to do it all. The  24/7 go, go, go group. Are you in that group? The group that has tried to do it all? Bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan. The group that wants to say they CAN do anything and everything? Are you in denial still and don't even realize that you might need an intervention?

I can honestly say that I have never been in that camp. I am not a Martha, I am a Mary. It's easy for me to not do what needs to get done. In fact I have to work very hard to be disciplined and get the day to day things done, let alone the OCD-ish type of things. I'm not a list maker, goal setter, chart charty kinda gal. I need help to GET motiviated! Seriously, sometimes I wonder if I have a pulse. I am also dramatic,  also I tend to exaggerate, and I am also not in denial of these character traits. And I said also three times just now.

Somewhere along the lines though, my wires got crossed and there was a point in time where I would say "Yes" to just about anything and everything. To be honest those wires still can get tangled up from time to time(argh... I hate tangled wires don't you?) and I have to work hard to remember these life principles or phrases to get me untangled.  Many moons ago(prolly like 7 years ago) In Another life, this really great guy Jerry Cooks words of advice stuck and my priorities began to change. Do you want to know his words of advice were?  More than advice, I guess it too has become kind of a life phrase...

Here it is,  Listen Up... Sit up you don't want to miss this...


"If you say "yes" to one thing you are saying "no" to something or someone else."


(Btw, if you haven't read any of Jerry's books go do yourself a favor go right now... wait... No... go after you finish here, and pick them up you can thank me later)

Can you see why that phrase up there, changed my life?  Really. No joke. It makes me thankful that many moons ago I learned a few things, and that is that I don't know much, but what I do know is this;

To focus on what I really want to say yes to helps me learn how to say no.
I'm not a natural "NO" person.
Are you a natural "NO" person?
So you can see why this was an important life lesson to this people pleasing, non-confrontational, Eh-kinda gal, and I imagine if you are of the camp that says yes to more things than you should because you still think you can do it ALL, and you are still in denial of your issues, then I bet it would help you too.

It reminds me that I can do Anything, but I can't do Everything.


Which I guess can be summed up in one word.

This whole post could have just been one word.

Could you imagine me just posting one word?


Maybe with a picture like this;




Selah.

Linking up herehere, here and here.






6 comments:

Hannah said...

I really like this post. And your right, when you say yes to something, you do say no to something else...I think its sanity :) Thanks for sharing.

No(dot dot)el said...

Hannah it really does help keep things a bit less chaotic around here. I'm grateful for these reminders too :) Thanks for stopping by sweet girl.

Cami said...

What an AMAZING post for sure. Thank you for sharing your thoughts, your heart, and most of all - your friendship <3

Also thank you for linking up to First Day of My Life! <3

No(dot dot)el said...

Cami - THANK YOU for hosting it and for being so friendly and for always writing back (wink wink)

Unknown said...

Great post and I will also be checking out the "Hello" blog. It sounds interesting. I am part of that group aaargh. I'm trying really hard to prioritize. I love what you said We can do anything but not everything! I love it. I need to tattoo this on my forehead. no really I just need to remind myself of this everyday. You are awesome and so is your blog :) I hope you're having a wonderful amazing day!

Erin said...

Um, wow, I LOVE this!
I totally feel like you were speaking to me . . . I know you weren't, but it just felt like it. I'm so OCD and type-A and I have such a hard time saying, 'No' because I don't want to let anyone down. Your post really made me think.

Blog design ©2012 Design by Alyx