I recently read an excellent article by Lynn Marie Sager, "The Power of Vaccuum", in which she talks about a topic that I usually mention in passing in my articles and that is very frequent among professional women. The feeling that the day does not have enough hours and that, although you are always very busy, you are not satisfied, you do not have a full life, a life with purpose.
In addition, this weekend I heard that according to a study 66% of Spanish women are stressed and feel that the day does not have enough hours. As I am sure that this can be applied to women of any nationality, I have decided to write about it.
We have a day full of activities, we are running from one place to another, it seems to us that the day does not have enough hours and that I hope we did not even have to eat to be able to do more things (that if you are not one of those who skip the food to go to the gym).
The problem with this situation is not only that you are stressed, exhausted and do not have time for everything you want, but that the years go by and one day you realize that your life is missing something, that you are not taking advantage of it. The question is: are you doing something useful with your life? Or are you filling it with all kinds of activities that do not suppose any type of satisfaction or personal fulfillment?
Of all the list of things that you have to do, what is there that improves your quality of life, that makes you enjoy yourself, that leads you to your definition of personal or professional success? Or are you doing things without thinking twice? Of course, we all have certain obligations to take care of, but are they part of your activities or are they the majority? If most of the activities you do are compulsory and do not give you much, what are you surprised if your life is meaningless?
The question is that since your day is going to be full of activities and very busy, why not try it with activities that contribute something to your life, that are important to you? Of course it is not easy, no, if it were there would not be 66% of stressed Spanish women. Your agenda will always be full, you will always have more things to do, there will always be people who will add more things to your list. But think for a moment, what would make your life the way you want it, full, with purpose?
Here's what's important, if you fill the day with all sorts of relatively trivial activities, and then try to find time for the really important things for you, you won't find it. So what is the alternative? Program the things that matter to you first and fill in the gaps with the rest.
Imagine that you have a glass jar of a certain size and that you have to fill it with sand and marbles. If you fill the jar to the top with sand, then no matter how hard you try you won't be able to put any marbles in it. However, if you fill it with marbles, there will always be some room for the sand. Of course you will not be able to put all the sand, after all, the jar has an invariable size, but you can choose how much of each thing you want to put.
If we apply this to your life, any given day only has 24 hours, no matter how much you want to stretch it; It is like the jar, it has a certain size and you cannot do anything to change it. The sand is the activities that do not add quality to your life, the obligations, the "should", etc. And marbles are the really important things, the ones that make your life more enjoyable, the ones that make your day worthwhile. So you know, you can choose to fill your jar with sand, which is probably what you have been doing so far (with the occasional marble from time to time, yes). Or you can put as many marbles as you can and fill spaces with sand. Luckily or unfortunately you can't put it all in, so you choose and what you choose will determine your quality of life.
If you continue to focus on activities that do not contribute anything to your life, in the end you will run out of energy and you will feel that the days are escaping you without pain or glory. If you continue to do everything for others without taking care of yourself, more of the same. If you don't schedule time for the things that are important to you now, you never will and you will fill your life with sand (yours and that of others)
Tell me, what are you going to choose? Do you keep running and doing things that don't add value to your life, or start filling the jar with marbles?
