Give yourself grace

Do you struggle balancing it all?  Striving for perfectionism?  Trying to keep on top of it all but feel like you're constantly behind?  

Let's use a common story of baked goods for your child's school sale.  The goal is to contribute a baked item for the class to sell and raise money.  After a full day at the office,  making sure dinner was on the table, everyone got to their evening activities and all the equipment needed for said activity,  we fumble back thru the Home door and realize tomorrow is the school bake sale.  CRAP!  So,  it's now bath and bedtime routines and you're running low on steam,  what do we do and to what level of perfection like standards?  

1) Do you get everyone tucked in and start from scratch on the picture perfect treats? You know this will take at least an hour for mixing, baking, decorating and then cleaning up. 2) Reach for the box mix, canned frosting and save yourself 20 minutes in the process? OR 3) plan a five minute store stop and send the plastic packaged treats off in the morning?  

Self conversations may include some like: 1)'homemade' is so much better.  It shows how much I care about my kids and the quality they consume and share.  2) it's still made at home but I can get to bed sometime tonight and possibly function in the morning to do it all again.  OR 3) screw this,  they are kids and baked goods are going to be enjoyed regardless of time invested.  Insert here,  a Hopeful Lifestyle.  

Shifted to self talking in a positive light and giving myself grace based on the goal.  Focusing on the goal result in place or 'picture perfect' minds will help you shift to controlling more and more of your daily stresses.  

So next time you feel 'behind the ball' or  beyond stressed,  step into Hope and let's look at the goals together.