You Can’t Do It All (Don’t You Hate That?)

Creative Chaos.
I love life. A lot. I love tasting, touching, feeling, seeing, hearing, doing. I’m curious about things, intrigued by things, inspired by things. I have a million things I want to learn, a billion things I want to create and a zillion things I want to do!

I bet you can relate.

And what happens when we try to do it all, see it all, say yes to it all, buy it all, eat it all, read it all, make it all?

It’s the weirdest thing.

Instead of getting full, we get weighed down and depleted.

It’s counter-intuitive and perfectly normal.

See, life is bigger than you.

There’s always more to see, more to do, more to learn, more to become, more to experience, more to love. There are more ideas, more projects and more dreams to come true.

There’s more on earth than you can consume!

This doesn’t mean that life is too big and needs to be contained and controlled and this doesn’t mean that you’re too small and need to be stuffed or miss out.

I started to understand this on my honeymoon. Justin and I went to a resort in the Dominican Republic. Because it was all-inclusive, every meal was a wonderfully abundant buffet. Talk about the perfect scenario for over-indulgence! At least that’s what I anticipated. But after a few days, I discovered an unexpected ease. I didn’t have to over-stuff my plate and myself because there would be another meal soon and it would also be wonderful. I could have as much as felt good and trust that there would be more.

I’ve found this to be true with life as well.

If you don’t pursue this idea, there will be another. If you don’t go to this conference, there will be something else to attend. If you don’t get into this art show, there will be another one to apply to. If you didn’t like this book, there’s more at the library. And if you didn’t get a chance to read a newsletter, I guarantee you, there’s another one coming.

Now, I don’t say this with naiveté. I know that many of us, myself included, have not only feared there won’t be more but we’ve experienced there not being more. Life is rich but it also has its own sense of timing and no guarantees. There are times when we find ourselves needing something and it isn’t there.

But here’s the thing. If I double the size of my meal today because I’m scared of being hungry tomorrow, I may still be hungry tomorrow.

Over-stuffing ourselves now does not help us later.

You and I are blessed with a bit of time, a bit of space and a bit of energy to spend on some of the wide array of riches life has to offer.

If you step in with your whole heart, pursue and enjoy even a bit of what calls to you, your life will be rich and full and extraordinary, even if you didn’t do it all.

3 comments

  1. yvonne says:

    You are so right! I can totally relate. This makes me collect things for art, that make my home a big mess – but the artworks get finished months later. I start books, read a chapter, start another one… Last year I had school and musical and I was always stressed and tired, so I pause now from acting. Sometimes we have to decide, whats most important and let other things go (for a while).
    I have now 4 weeks off which is amazing and I’m so glad, I can reorganize myself, my home, my priorities, my thoughts. Think about, where I can make room for things I want to to and pick some out of them. Yes, we can’t do it all.
    many greetings!

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