Hannah’s Honeycomb
GUEST SPEAKER
“gracious words are a honeycomb; sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs
One of my earliest memories of motherhood was walking my newborn baby around my house in circles or even outside in my driveway for hours and hours because he would start to cry every time I sat down. Either he was crying as I was sitting, or I was crying as we were walking. I did not know how to navigate this new season I was entering.
Dishes piled high, every counter space cluttered, I was wearing the same sweatpants outfit for days at a time, sleep deprived, each day ran into the next. During that time, I had great difficulty taking care of myself and keeping up on the many other responsibilities as a wife, mother, friend, housekeeper, and working part time in my profession. Drowning in responsibilities, I was doing nothing well and we were both exhausted.
At that time in my life, I wish I would have known about the "4 burner theory". I first heard about this concept from Dawn at the Minimal Mom. A picture of a stove with each burner representing an area of life such as friends, health, work, family or something else that represents a big area in your life.
The theory says if you want to be successful in life, cut out one of those burners, but if you really want to make a meaningful contribution then two burners must be cut out. While this may seem impossible to remove areas of our life, certain burners can be turned down very low or even off for a period of time.
Prioritizing two areas that are essential in various stages of your life can be the difference between feeling like a hot mess or being successful and clear minded. I wish I could have given myself permission to turn down the many other areas of my life vying for my attention and focus on my precious baby who needed me to be the best version of myself.
Which of your burners are essential right now and what areas of your life could be turned down to give you the best possibility for a successful and well-balanced life?
