Just Do Something

Finding Motivation Amidst Overwhelmed Exhaustion

Full time farm life is just that - FULL. 

Looking back over the past five years, and then over this year since mid-March, I cannot comprehend how we got anything done here when we were both working off-farm full time.

Oh, wait, I remember -- by not eating dinner or slowing down until after sunset in the summer (if we ate dinner at all), cramming in social lives and projects we didn't have time for during the work week into every weekend, and using 99% of our vacation time from the day job on "staycations" where we worked on projects around the farm. (The other 1% we spent on illness, family emergencies, and - rarely - actual vacations.)

And this week, after the luxury of having Farmer Husband here with me every day last week (as he used some of that vacation time for a week's staycation to work on dairy equipment set up), recovering from one large event while another one looms, I will admit I am exhausted and overwhelmed.

Monday it got the better of me. Yesterday was much better and I actually got several things accomplished. This morning, the temptation to linger longer over morning coffee and wallow in my overwhelmedness was strong. But then the Lord reminded me that it doesn't have to all get done at once, and with that prompting I was able to find the strength to just do something.

That's the key - just starting with something.

Don't stare at and reread the entire To Do List and then freeze in fear of failing to get it all done in the time you think you should, just pick one thing and do it. It doesn't even have to be on the list. As long as you choose one thing, focus on it, and see it through, soon you'll have followed through and completed several things, and that List, while it's sure to keep growing and changing, won't seem so ominous.

So, with the lawn creeping up toward needs-to-be-mowed status again, weeds crawling back into garden aisles and around flowerbed borders, laundry escaping the hamper, more soap orders than soap available, and more invitations for fun events than free time, I took the first step with one tired foot, followed by another with the other, and pushed start on the washing machine, then pulled some weeds from the carrot patch in the veggie garden...

And knowing Farmer Husband is counting on me to make the most of my time here, and learning more all the time that with God's help and purpose in mind I am capable of more than I ever imagined, I found motivation amidst overwhelmed exhaustion.