As a singleton, I learned the hard way that you have to learn how to balance things in life. At times, I would overbook and over commit myself to obligations that would leave me feeling exhausted after attempting to do it all. I learned that sometimes you just have to say No so that you can devote the proper time and attention to more important things in life. Before I got married, I had come to some sort of balance with my time and attention and was comfortable with it. However, after Mr. Awesome and I jumped the broom, I found myself needing to relearn the balancing game all over again.
Going from being a singleton to being a wife was a blissful transition. I was super excited to go from living for one to living for more than one. However, I did not anticipate the tough road that it would be to transition from living for one to living for two and three instantly. I easily figured that adjusting to a spouse and child at the same time would be a piece of cake. Let me tell you that was a big piece of cake. I suddenly found myself not only trying to be the Proverbs 31 woman who was a wife of noble character, but also the Proverbs 31 woman who was trying to navigate the tricky road of being a non-traditional mother. Since I felt fairly comfortable with taking on the role of being a wife, I begin to make the mistake of putting much more energy into proving my adequacy of being an instant mother. I learned quickly that my attempt to perform this type of balancing act was terribly unbalanced and I got a serious wake up call. Initially, I was putting more energy into keeping up with a schedule that (in my opinion) was too busy for a 13 year old than I was into pouring into my primary ministry outside of God, my marriage. On top of my personal quests such as my career, personal endeavors, and being a homemaker, I felt like a fast spinning wheel that had come off its axle. I began to look at other wives and mothers who "appeared" to have everything under control and wonder why was I always so tired and in need of a nap.
It was during my wake up call that I decided to put things back into the rightful order that they belonged, putting my marriage first after God while everything else followed. Although things ran more smoothly this way, I wish that I could say I have mastered the new balancing act in my life. It is something that I continuously pray about, especially now that a new dimension to our family dynamics has further challenged the balance that I was already trying to solidify. So here I am relearning this new balancing act. With more prayer, I know that I will get it.
