I recently had one of those Ah Ha! moments in life. If I’d been a cartoon, a light bulb would have gone off over my head.  Chalk it up to a new year, new goals, reflections, self examination and all of that good stuff.  I was driving along, chugging my Iced Green Tea from Panera Bread (can you say addiction?) and wondering why I didn’t seem to have the same zest and passion for a lot of my online projects, websites, and blogs that I once did.

I mean, I take pride in my sites and in our online web publishing business and I couldn’t love what I do any more than I do.  However, I don’t jump out of the bed quite as excitedly as I used  to.  I also tend to get distracted much easier than before.  I’ve simply noticed a shift in my attitude the past few months – not a huge shift, mind you, but a shift nonetheless.  So I wanted to get to the bottom of it and the sooner the better.

As one part of my brain was lying out the situation, another part offered up the answer with one word:  Overwhelmed.  The part of the brain that was busy dishing out the facts wasn’t so sure…. I work from home for crying out loud, it said… how can I be overwhelmed when I set my own terms, goals, deadlines, and hours?  Nah, I wasn’t buying that.

But, as I drove along, the same word kept playing again and again in my brain.  So, being a blogger, I laid out all of my must-dos and wana-dos in bullet points fashion:

• get fit – I want to devote time to achieving the best health and fitness I possibly can
• I want to expand my self help blog/website and add more articles
• I want to re-do my entire mental fitness/brain fitness website and blog
• I need to add a lot more pictures to my Kentucky site and I want to add a lot of slideshows
• I wanted to re-do 3 other websites and 2 other blogs
• I want to redecorate the living room
• As soon as spring arrives, my husband and I have a lot of landscaping and gardening plans that I’m completely excited about
• I have lots of goals for my recipe blog
• I had 14 blogs that I wanted to keep updated, if not daily – every other day
• I had relaunched a site that would take a lot of work to get back on its feet
• I need to do more article writing and marketing
• Social media – I need to become more involved

Then, add to the list the fact that I am an avid cook who is happiest when she’s in the kitchen cooking for at least an hour each day.  Less than that and I feel cheated.  Also, if it’s college basketball or baseball season – in the evening, my cat Alexa and I want to be right where the action is… in front of the television with snacks nearby.

After a brief inventory, I went with “overwhelmed.”  I envisioned a plate that was packed so full – with so much food piled onto it – that it was atrocious rather than inviting.  I knew some things needed to go and, as is usually the case, I didn’t have any problem pinpointing the ones that were more trouble than they were worth – the things that didn’t offer me enough of a reward or satisfaction to make them worthwhile.

By the time the amazing green tea was gone (and my straw was making its sssswwwwwwwrrrr, there isn’t any left, woman plea) I had mentally shortened my self-imposed obligations and saw light at the end of the tunnel.  What’s more I actually saw the plate.  The plate, to me, represents life and, more importantly, getting all of the enjoyment from it that you can.  When we heap too many expectations onto the plate – and onto life – we don’t have time to really approach life as it was meant to be approached.

Instantly, I mean instantly, I felt better.  I was able to lay out a workable daily schedule – one that allowed life to be beautiful, not just busy.

If you’re feeling a little less inspired or motivated than normal, take a good, honest look at your life.  Don’t just ask yourself what you NEED, ask yourself what you WANT.  What makes you happy?  What makes you feel relaxed?  What gives you the greatest joy?  Are you allowing yourself enough time for these things?

By the same token, you may be one of the few people carrying a plate that’s too empty.  Instead of biting off too much, you’ve been guilty of having lips so tight a straw couldn’t squeeze through them!  Maybe you’re at the point where you want more from life and more from yourself.  If that’s the case, fill your plate wisely.  Choose things that you are truly passionate about – the sort of things you could, literally, talk about for hours without taking a breath.  These are the things that will almost always seem like play even when they’re work.

If you need to add to your plate, go for it… just be smart about it.

If you need to clean off some of your plate, get busy. I highly, highly, highly recommend it.  And, with that said, I am now off to look at some miniature tomatoes, a hummingbird garden, and a shade garden that my husband showed me online last night.