Juggling…A Valuable Skill

Juggling. A valuable skill.

What comes to mind when I hear this word: Juggling? Sometimes I think about how fun it is to try to teach kids to juggle colorful scarves. Other times I think about myself walking to the front door with my hands full, on the phone, trying to grasp the keys from my purse to unlock the door, while my son whines, bangs, and pushes on the door wondering why it won’t open.

Recently, I’ve been thinking of the kind of juggling that most of us moms (and most women) know how to do really well. You know what I’m talking about. Most of the time we can keep all the balls in the air with ease, without anyone knowing how difficult it is, and we smile, thinking, “yes! I have GOT IT TOGETHER!” Then…we drop a ball, quickly pick it up, and try to keep on going like no one noticed.  But you notice, and even though you haven’t skipped a beat, all you can think about is that one ball you dropped. Soon you become distracted by this idea that you couldn’t keep it all together and all the balls drop.

This juggling act I feel at times is a blessing…yes…bear with me. We can do this, us ladies, like I said, really well. I think we’re wired for it somehow. Yes we complain about it, yes we sometimes feel we juggle too much, but honestly, if it weren’t for this awesome skill…oh   my   gosh.  Could you imagine life with out it? Everything would be a mess! Our kids, our kitchens, our desks at work, our relationships, our inbox…just about everything.

I happen to love the juggling skills I have. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve half of the things in my life if I couldn’t juggle.  I have been juggling a lot lately with my current job, my new business, and family life mixed in. I’ve been dropping balls all over the place the past few weeks, but I’ve actually been enjoying picking them back up and learning from my mistakes. It doesn’t feel good to mess up, but it feels great to pick up and keep on going. It’s in us, this juggling skill.  I see it every day.

So acknowledge this gift, to be able to do all those things you do at once, while doing 3 other things, and reading the list you made yesterday, and making a new list for tomorrow (which is probably the same list because you got nothing done), while planning dinner, and making weekend plans, and returning a quick e-mail, while sipping a much-needed coffee, as you answer your children’s questions, and find your husbands socks, and ….isn’t it fun? Maybe not always fun. But valuable. Definitely valuable.