While on vacation, I picked up the latest issue of Organize magazine to read on the trip home. The magazine is fantastic! Look for a post next week about some of my favorite articles in the issue. What I wanted to blog about today was the article entitled “I’d love to, but I don’t have time” by Sue Brenner.

I often remark to my husband that within the last two years, it seems like our life went from a normal sort of busy to frantic. I’ve decided its just the stage of life we’re in with a grade school child and teenager. Neither are heavily involved in outside activities but we do have the typical doctor/dentist appointments, friends calling, school commitments, etc. There are some weeks where I find myself feeling angry at being pulled in so many directions.

Sue’s article really spoke to me. My favorite suggestion was #2: Put a cap on the favors you do each week. Too often I find myself agreeing to go/do something I really don’t want to do. As I’m saying yes, I know in my head that what I’m agreeing to is going to overly stress my time for that day or week.

After reading Sue’s article, I have decided for myself that I can do two favors each week in addition to our normal weekly commitments. The first one will be walking dogs at our local no kill shelter. My son loves to do this but many times I’m so tired by Saturday that I tell him no. That’s not good. My son is 14 and let’s face it not many kids that age want to spend time with Mom. The second one will be for one other thing that pops up. No matter how good #3 or #4 thing sound, I’m going to say no.