Priorities and Stuff…

Hello there. I have been awfully quiet around these parts lately, haven’t I?

I thought I should offer an explanation for my blog neglect. Plain and simply, it’s the stock standard excuse. In one word: Busy.

Here’s the thing with blogging. It takes a lot of time. Which means when you are busy, prioritizing is required to get it done. I’m hopeless at prioritizing. Have been always. When I was a kid in primary school, my school used a rather questionable learning model called ACE. (Accelerated Christian Education) While I’m glad that ACE allowed my church the freedom to establish a Christian school in the ’80’s, and there were definitely some really good elements in it, there were several glaring weaknesses. For one, it didn’t suit my learning style.Secondly it required a lot of self discipline to set goals and complete pages in little booklets. I did not have good self discipline and unfortunately this system did not help me acquire it. I was also a day dreamer and found it hard to focus, so combine all that together and it rather stunted my academic progress. Thank goodness I still had some caring teachers who did their best to work around the system and cater for my indivdual needs, so at the end of the day I got through primary school having solid foundations in everything, except maybe a slight handicap in Math. (But who knows, that could have happened regardless. Mathematics and I generally only have a relationship due to necessity.)

Anyway, sorry, I’m being reflective here which isn’t of that much importance, except to say I have always and still struggle with organising myself to be disciplined and prioritising my time. During this season of Lent, this has been something I’ve decided to work on. Especially with social media usage. So, with varying degrees of success, I’ve been reducing the magnetic compulsion to waste time at the computer. I adore Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and blogging, and I think they enhance our relationships with others. For me they have been an excellent escape and an opportunity for “me time”. And blogging has been wonderful for letting me express myself expressively while recording memories for our family. Sadly though, quite often when I switch on the computer, I tend to drift here, there and everywhere and before I know it, time has slipped by and when I surface into the real world, there is so often a level of chaos that I could have, alas, should have, addressed if I had reduced and better used my time on the internet. Because really, I don’t have unreasonable blogging times. I aim to do at least one post each week. My ideal is two posts, anything over that is real bonus material!

Having said all that, I have had many  delightful reasons for not blogging in the past busy fortnight. I went to Sydney for two nights with my extraordinary husband. Oh my, such a treat it was! But so busy leading up to that day, getting everything ready for Grandma to take over for three days. We have had rainy days to keep children occupied and parent teacher interviews and playgroups to attend. A cookie exchange to bake for and a memorial service to celebrate the life of a truly great man. (Another school friend’s father sadly passed away.) As well as that, I have had a guilty pleasure. In the past week, I have had read a book! But no, not just one book – THREE! On my way to Sydney on the plane I started the Hunger Games trilogy. On the plane ride home I started the second book. After that it was snatching a moment here and there to read a few pages at a time and staying up late at nights devouring the words and being transported to another time and place by an expert storyteller. It has been so long since I have enjoyed a read so much.

A leisurely breakfast in Sydney.

So tell me. Are you an organising, prioritising guru? Do tell me some secrets to your success. I will take all hints I can get. Or are you like me completely hopeless and procrastination is your middle name. Somewhere in the middle? Speak up, share, encourage or bemoan the complexities of juggling every day life! I’ll look forward to hearing your thoughts!