Limits are Important

Imagine a glass of water....imagine filling that glass with a large pitcher...the glass has a limit of how much it can hold. If you keep pouring water in the glass, eventually, it will overflow and spill on to the counter and into the floor.

You, like the glass, have a natural limit on how much you can contain, do, and manage well. We all do! When we go beyond that, filling our lives and schedules up with too much, it can become messy. Instead of water on the floor, we end up with stress, anxiety, anger, depression, or disappointment.

Despite the fact that most of us are well aware of this, we tend to live our lives as if there are no limits. We can pour more and more into our glass without ever overflowing. Our schedules leave no room for mistakes, illness, oversleeping, a surprise visit from a friend, or even a longer-than-expected phone conversation with a loved one. Time to rest, reconnect, and recuperate evaporates. We find ourselves maxed out physically, emotionally, and even spiritually!

The good news is that you don't have to overfill your glass. You can embrace a healthy-paced lifestyle. You can get the max out of life without maxing out your life! (ok so I have heard that before, but I don't know where, lol.) You have to create boundaries!

Now imagine that you have another glass of water. Imagine filling the glass with the same pitcher of water, but this time you stop half an inch from the rim. There is now room for more. Another drop of water won't put it over the edge. There is room for the occasional overflow.

There is now time for unexpected things--spit up on your work shirt, a last minute deadline at work, a surprise dinner out with a friend. AND...If nothing unexpected happens, you get to rest!!!

Do you feel like your glass is overflowing? Look over your weekly schedule. See if there is anything on it that you do that is too time consuming, time wasting or even something that can be delegated out to someone else. Try cutting back on 1-2 things that you do so you have room for the occasional overflow.