Daily Dose of Inspiration: Discovering What Matters
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Have you ever found yourself deeply involved in a task only to step back and say, “Why does this even matter?”
It seems as though we all come to that point in our lives from time to time. The truth is, we often find ourselves so deeply involved in routines that we carry out tasks that in the long run, really aren’t that important. These tasks can rob us from time with family and friends, and in the end even take a piece of our happiness. So what is the solution? Well that is what we are exploring today. Today, let’s talk about discovering what matters.
First, take a look at your day. I mean REALLY take a look at your day. Journal for a day if you need to, writing down your tasks as you complete them. Take special note of any task that takes you more than a few minutes. When you find those “hot spots” re-evaluate them. How important are these tasks? How do they benefit you and your family? How do they make you feel? At the end of this questioning, you should be able to see how much the task matters.
Let’s look at an example: Suppose after breakfast each day you load the dishwasher. It takes about 5 minutes and you can do it while the kids get dressed. It helps you keep the area prepped for dinner later, and you feel more organized. Is it worth taking the time to do this each day? I would venture and say yes.
Example two. After dinner you fill the sink and prepare to wash dishes. It will take about 20 minutes. Your child on the other hand wants to read a book to you or your spouse wants you to sit down with them and talk about your day. Sure you could read the book or sit down and chill out, but then your dishwater goes cold and you still have a mess on your hands. So what do you do? These are the situations where you need to ask yourself what matters. Your children are only young once, your spouse needs some together time. Reading with your child is valuable and there will come a time (before you are ready) that they won’t want to read to you. Bonding with your spouse is important. Final ruling? Set the dish towel down and walk away, fill the sink back up later and start again. Now is a great time to see that taking the time to bond matters more than making sure the dishes get washed at that moment.
Life gets really busy and time passes before we know it. Trust me, I know this first hand. My children are now fully grown and I look back and wish that I could experience many things again. During those years we were so busy trying to work, make it to the after school activities on time, get baths and get to bed at a reasonable hour that we could barely keep up. Let’s face it, life is intense when you are in the midst of it all!
If I could go back, I would make a conscious effort to set aside time to really be “present in the moment”. To stop the madness and really focus on those around me. Although it is impossible to go back and have a re-do, the good news is that we can make those changes starting now. Putting down the cell phone, laptop or tablet and goofing around with your spouse matters. Sitting on the porch drinking a cold glass of ice tea and talking about your big dreams or what you would do if you won the lottery matters and might be just what the doctor ordered!
Reconnecting with those we love, listening to their dreams and ideas no matter how goofy or crazy or out of reach they may seem is an amazing way to bond. A mentor of mine told me many years ago “never tell your children that their grand ideas or crazy dreams are silly our outlandish, what a shame it would be if they believed you.” How true that is and it goes for all of us, not just children. Why not dream? Why not have outlandish crazy ideas of what you might want to do in your life or things you want to experience? What a shame it would be if you believed that it was silly our outlandish! Dream Big!
So what really matters to you? In a perfect world how would your life look?
When you are in the process of discovering what matters, you may find out a few things. You may find that eating dinner as a family matters more than what is being served on the plate. You might find that letting your kids have fun in the mud on a rainy day matters more than the stains they are setting into their clothing that you will have to soak to clean. You may even discover that you have some crazy dreams that you have tucked away since you were a little kid that some day could become a reality!
At the end of the day, when we are up in years and quietly sitting in our rocker reminiscing about our life, keeping up with the dishes or what is happening on social media will be the last thing on our mind. The thoughts that will come to mind are the memories that we made with those we love. The giggling in the rain, the fun we had singing our favorite songs at the top of our lungs with our best friends, the little moments, the big moments, the moments that we thought we wouldn’t make it through but somehow did. Those are the things that I have discovered really matter.
So how will you find what matters this weekend? When you sit back do you have any fun memories that come to mind that you will cherish when you are old and grey? Lets talk about it on our Facebook Chat page!
Be inspired today, friends!
