Posted in Simple and Frugal Living
Chaos comes in all shapes and sizes. It may creep into your life or come bursting in like a herd of buffalo. You may find that it involves scheduling, at home responsibilties, work, money, up coming events, or any thing that is out of the ordinary. Chaos may last a few days or for weeks.
You may not notice chaos when it starts to take a hold of your life. Chaos is tricky. It disguises itself. Often times it can sneak right onto a list of the most well thought out schedule. The key to dealing with chaos is recognizing it.
There is no guilt in chaos. We all have it. It will never go away. It is how you deal with it. For example, the spring is the time of many homeschool conferences. Homeschoolers may be feverishly researching curriculum for the following year; working their budget to allow for the purchase of said materials. Or perhaps you are headed on a family vacation. There are lists of items to take with you, lists of activities, lists of travel check points, etc. Whatever it is, you are planning, to help control the chaos. Then a few days prior, you begin to feel yourself spinning.
Some items on your list are taking longer than normal. You get your monthly visitor and you begin to feel overly sluggish while doing your list items. Your children begin pestering you for everything, because they are feeling ignored while you are organizing. Then you realize you forgot to pull something out for dinner. Oh and by the way, your husband is due home in 10 minutes. The house is disoriented, the kids are wild, and you are feeling as though you can't focus on any one task. Chaos has arrived.
Now, follow me onward. The hubby sees what is happening and offers to buy pizza for dinner. You feel a sense of relief. However, chaos is peristent. The pizza coes, you quickly wolf down 2 sloces, throw your paper plate away and run back to your list. You may continue your internet research of some curriculum that has been moved to your maybe list or continue packing or unpacking from a trip. However, chaos does not let up. You push forward, determined that your list of activities will get you through. There is plenty of time.
The next day comes. While you were sleeping chaos continued to coil itself around you, unbeknownst to you. It is starting to constrict itself around you and you find your breathing a little more shallow and your mood a bit more irritable. By the time the hubby comes home, you say, "You are home already?" This time the hubby replies by saying he can see you have had a hard day and will take the family to dinner. You come home from dinner, which you didn't enjoy because your mind is filled with all of the tasks you have yet to accomplish for the day. You begin to wonder why you didn't allow the family to go out to dinner while you stayed behind to work. You come home and dig in quickly. Kids are out of sorts, the hubby is getting edgy that your mind is so pre-occupied, and you do not see many items able to be crossed off, yet you press on, bu with a little more alarm in your mind. The clock is ticking.
The following day you busy yourself moving from task to task, but semngly never completing any task. The kids keep tugging on your pant legs, begging for sustencance. You tell them to grab a box of crackers and make due. The hubby comes home and whisks the kids out for a bite to eat. When they return, you are oblivious to the fact that they had even left or returned. The hubby? Who's that? Your focus on compelting the tasks at hand.
You see where this is all going. But here is the thing. When this begins to happen it is important for you to recognize the chaos. If this goes on for a week, it's no big deal. It happens. What is important is that you realize it is not going smoothly and make a plan to coime back to simplicity. Perhaps it is looking at the checkbook to see how much you have spent on eating out over the chaotic period that will slap you into reality. Perhaps it is the fact that you feel as though you haven't seen your family in a week. Still another clue, might be that your brain is on overload. Whatever it is that clues you in to the fact that chaos has taken over is not important. It is the actual realization that it has happened that makes the difference.
From this point simplicity is not far away. You may not seem like you can find it again. But taking a few moments to re-evaluate your To Do list and a better plan to get it accomplished with a specific time frame, or asking for help, or better preparing for meals, etc will help you get back on track. For me, looking at my time frame to determine the exact date that simplicity will be obtainable is very helpful. I use that as a focal point of my goal. It helps me to keep pressing forward and doing my best to get to the other side. To be able to heave a great sigh of relief that the time of chaos has past, is so rewarding. I focus on keeping my attitude with others in check. My internal dialogue must be focused on God and being in constant prayer to help me through this time, while continuing to deal with others appropraitely. An integral part is accepting what I cannot accomplish, or re-evaluating my priorities. For example, I like to clean my entire home before leaving for any length of time. I used to stress myself to the limit by forcing myself to "speing clean" the entire place before leaving. This isn't necessary. It is just as beneficial to do my regular weekly cleaning. This frees up time for me to focus on other tasks and takes stress off my shoulders.
Simplicity is never far away. Keep the Lord in yout heart and let Him know that your desire is to accomplish your tasks with a merry heart and return to simplicity as quick as possible. Continue to call on Him for inspiration and motivation to keep moving towards your goal. Before you know it, simplicity will be back in your life.
Times of chaos are unavoidable. It is the recognition of chaos that allows you to focus on the process to return to your life of simplicity before you spin completely out of control. Putit at His feet, and teh journey will seem less tedious and draining.
These are my thoughts.
Leslie Valeska
~Contributing Writer~
