J. ANNE

I read a post the other day that changed how I view almost everything in my life.  I know that sounds dramatic.  It’s a wild claim to say that a single post could change everything, but I even went so far as to explain the post to my fiancé and it has even changed the level of grace we extend to one another when a ball is dropped by either of us.

I read the post from The Working Mother about a statement that author Nora Roberts said during an interview with author Jennifer Lynn Barnes.  When someone asked Nora how she balanced her life between writing and her kids she said, “the key to juggling is to know that some of the balls you have in the air are made of plastic and some are made of glass.”  

The takeaway to this being that it’s okay to drop the plastic balls.  The glass balls would represent the most important aspects in your life at that time… and it’s not about only juggling four or five balls… it’s about juggling forty or fifty balls at a time.  Sometimes you’re going to drop a ball.  The trick is that you just have to make sure that the ones you let drop are plastic.  To add another layer of comfort to this idea, Nora went on to say that even the glass balls can become plastic balls when needed.  

This means that sometimes work emails need to take precedence over spending family time… and that’s okay.  You can always pick the family ball back up, wipe any smudges off, and toss it back up into the air as the shiny glass ball that it is.  

Since I have read this article there have been several times when a ball got dropped… pizza wasn’t ordered, a kid was late to a baseball practice, the dishes were left dirty in the sink, or one of us fell asleep before calling to say goodnight… and our responses to each other are a simple hug and five words… “Plastic ball.  I love you.”

Blogging for me has always been a plastic ball.  I struggle to keep myself to a writing schedule.  I used to get mad at myself for it, but I have learned to give myself so much more grace.  Communicating with my clients, running social media, maintaining photo-delivery systems, creating new content and working towards bigger dreams within my business are all glass balls.  Blogging may get a promotion someday, but today isn’t that day… and that’s okay.