Oh Mama, I see you almost going into a state of panic as you pull up your calendar and see these final weeks of the year and all its happenings laid out before you. The expectations of holiday parties, gift-giving, family and friend connections, and work tasks piling up are swirling around you like a tornado force.
My daughter came home from school this week and spoke with a tenderness of heart as she said, “Mom, can we spend time together and do something just us. I missed you today; it can be simple but I just want to love on you.”
Simple.
Love on you.
Think of your calendar and all that these weeks are asking of you and then think of your tribe and the ways the YES commitments will impact the energy you can bring to one another.
My extroverted self places high priority on relationship building and connection opportunities with loved ones, but my investing-in-multiple-roles-at-once-self is learning the deep measures of how saying NO to certain things gives me the highest-quality of my energy.
As you enter November and all the bounty of Thanksgiving that comes with the possible chaotic schedule, may you take the moments to take inventory of your schedule and your investments to see how they are allowing you to breathe.
I wish that I could say these things to you sitting across from a shared Thanksgiving meal together, but know that it comes from a grateful heart to how this can encourage you.
Set your calendar to match the attitude of your heart. If you need some space to breathe and to recoup then say NO thank you to those invitations and take the moments to be renewed. If you are filled up and want to invest in spaces with others, then say YES to those places that give you quality investments and strengthening conversations.
Investing well is about choosing QUALITY moments over allowing BUSY schedules to define you.
Who is saying to you, “It can be simple, but I just want to love on you?”
Holidays are coming where the culture will want to teach you that MORE is all the craze, but I am telling you that LESS doing and MORE being will drive your relationships deeper than anything else.
Lay down your phones and set aside time to simply just be. My family has found a connecting love of Yahtzee together.
Simple. Teamwork. Celebrating one another in big Yahtzee rolls. No money spent. Time together invested.
Spending quality time together is deeply rooted in the moments shared and not in the monetary exchange of activity.
Give yourself the grace to resist busyness and accept quality in its place. Show up to the places that speak love for what you need in the moment. Create a schedule that ushers peace and not chaos as you live out your story in this season.
It can be simple and still be impactful.