The Art of Monotasking

My friend and relative at Cherishing Life blog gave her readers a special challenge last week...mono-tasking. She invited readers to try to take a day or even part of a day and find a way to do one thing at a time vs. 3-4 things at a time. For women (especially mothers) this seems like a daunting quest!

I decided to try my hand at mono-tasking last Wednesday and I will just go ahead and admit that it was H.A.R.D. I was too scared to commit to an entire day so I determinded ahead of time that once I got home on Wednesday afternoon at 3:30 I would only do one thing at a time until I went to bed that night. It meant not clipping coupons and reading mail while cooking dinner, not watching television while folding laundry after Ansley went to bed, and not reading my newest arrival, Southern Living, while watching Ansley play in the backyard. On a typical evening, you might find me cooking dinner, running a load of laundry, unloading the dishwasher, watching Ansley play and listening to Jon tell me about his day before he heads off to work...ALL AT THE SAME TIME. I must admit I am a good multi-tasker and I find a strange sort of accomplishment in the fact that I can do so much in a little amount of time. I am sure most mothers feel this way :)

However, in those few short hours on Wednesday, I learned that when life slows down, living steps up. The quality of my "living" was accuntuated when I "gave up" to "gain more". I need to mono-task more often. I can't say I am ready or even willing to give up multi-tasking (honestly I don't see how a wife, mother, homemaker, and teacher can ever fully mono-task), I do see the reward in it and it has made me slow down, step back and assess my life. It's made me realize I have got to do a better job at taking care of myself. What about you? Do you take care of yourself? In my next post, I will share some self-assessment questions that a mentor/counselor asked me a few years ago that will hopefully challenge you (and me) to take better care of ourselves so we can be all we need to be for those we serve!