Too Much To Do--Not Enough Time

by Fran McNabb

It’s that time of the year again—shopping, baking, holiday parties, traveling, wrapping gifts—that

time of the year when the mind becomes a blur and down-time is nonexistent. Is there a way to get through it and still find the enjoyment that is meant to be?

When I was a working mom, I seemed to handle the stress of the holidays much better. Maybe I was more organized. Let’s face it. When a person has the responsibility of work and family, organization is essential. Now that I’m retired, you’d think there would be more time to do the things that I want to do and things that need to be done and less stress associated with it. Nope. Not true.

Now that I am no longer a fulltime teacher and a mom with growing boys, I do cherish my time at home, but that doesn’t mean I’m any more organized and ready for the holidays. Why is that? Do other women (and men) experience the same frenzy that I find myself in during the holidays?

Is it because we try to do too much because we have the time to do it? Is it because others expect more of us? I think it’s because my brain is still active (that’s a good thing) and thinks my body is still young and able to do all it wants to do. I’ll make a confession: I’m at the end of my sixth decade, but I do sometimes forget that. I’m an author and I still have all these wonderful plans for more books to write, contests to enter, blogs to write, edits to do, and on and on, but when it comes down to it, I can’t do it all, or maybe I just don’t have the energy to do it all.

So at this time of the year when everyone is rushing around, I think we all need to take inventory of the things in our lives that need to be done or want to do. Whether it’s finishing that next manuscript or actually having our Christmas list finished early, maybe a little organization and realization of what we can do is needed.

Can’t finish something? Don’t stress. Decide what's important. Rewrite your list of to-do-chores and do only those things that are necessary. Christmas is a time of joy. Don’t let stress take that joy away.

FRAN MCNABB writes sweet romance, with eight books available and four “searching for a home.” Her first book, A LIGHT IN THE DARK , is a Christmas themed story set in the mountains of W. Virginia. It was published in 2006 by Avalon Publishing and is now available through Montlake Publishing. http://a.co/cqVPhQO .Visit Fran at www.FranMcNabb.com or at mcnabbf@bellsouth.net.