"NO"

The usual suspect has reared it's head again.  Trying to find balance in life.  I have a tendancy to take on alot of things, and then get the feeling I never do anything properly, because my time is split so much.  But then I get bored doing the same thing day in and day out, so I need some distractions!  The trouble is, it is always the things I enjoy that I feel need cutting out to make time for the important things such as the needs of the family. 

One of the things I have already cut down on is computer time, and that is working quite well.  The other thing I was contemplating cutting out was the allotment.  I always feel guilty when I am down there, that I ought to be doing something else, but then when I am not down there I feel guilty that I am not down there, if you see what I mean! 

 But then I look at photos of some fairly recent trips down there, and see the work I have done (clearing the strawberry patch of bindweed, couch grass, and some invasive wild strawberry) and I remember how much I enjoy it.  The solitude and peace it gives me, and the produce it gives the family too.

There have been particular crops I have never been happy with, ie potatoes, carrots, beetroot, so I think this next year I will just grow more of the crops we seem to do well at and enjoy.  The allotment will be staying, and organisation will be more evident (hopefully!).

I think organisation is the key to it all, a skill I lack in quite dramatically.  And I really think I need to learn a word that is spelled N...O.  I don't need to say it to others, just myself.  Just because I can do something myself, eg knit something, crochet something, make something in the kitchen, grow something, doesn't mean that this is the way it should be done every single time, it is ok to take the short cut occasionally and either buy it, or let someone else do it. 

I am hoping this new mindset will help me feel more in control, and give me time with the family.  Rather than feeling I am firefighting every second of the day, being pulled every which way.  Fingers crossed.