Have you ever tried to juggle? I tried to juggle three balls at once when I was a child, but I believe I quickly gave up the trick finding something else to master. Now, as an adult, I feel I juggle all the time. How I wish it were only three harmless balls. If a ball happens to fly out of my control, it bounces away causing no harm or significance. Well, who knows what will happen if one of my juggling pieces falls. Sometimes it crashes and leaves many pieces to put back together.
We have many areas of life that we all have to juggle. They fit into our schedules and we do the best we can allotting time, money, and energy to each one. Some area I give attention to are family, job, meals, meetings, projects, and church. But lately, the juggling act has become a challenge when certain items are competing for a limited amount of time. Something has to give. What do you do when all the balls in the air cannot keep momentum?
I’ll give an example of my last week. One area that demands my attention is my writing (which is not my paying job). I need to write, to edit, to review, and to read. I desire to do all four in any given week. It seems my juggling skills are not capable of doing all those items right now. I was so excited to begin writing my next novel and made progress to the count of 15,000 words. At the same time I began to edit another novel that needs to be returned to the publisher. Then, another ball was thrown into the circle–a second round edit for my novel to be released in February. Suddenly, my priority had to shift. A ball had to drop with as little damage as possible. I didn’t want anything to break of be damaged. So I accessed my situation and much to my chagrin I had to put aside my writing and my edit of a future publication. Sad face!
Yet, in a week I will have finished my edit and can pick up my writing again. The cycle can be broken without harm, at least in my situation. I don’t want anyone in my life to suffer because of my clumsy or mismanaged juggling skills. Family, meals, job, and spiritual need to run as smoothly as possible. The other items have their time and place.
What is it that you juggle? Do you ever drop the ball? I sure do… but usually I can pick it up later.
Connect in Fiction with Marguerite Gray 
I agree. Life is definitely a juggling act. I never can believe all the things you do. I juggle work, sleep, cooking, cleaning, finances, side jobs, coming baby, my study of French and reading a novel for enjoyment. Many times the items that are for enjoyment are the ones I drop because they only affect me. On days when I have time for my activities i am most happy and at peace.
LikeLike