MAKING SURE YOU DON’T STRETCH YOURSELF TOO THIN, BUT ALSO MAKING SURE YOU DON’T STRETCH OTHER PEOPLE TOO THIN
So many of us tend to pull ourselves or be pulled in all directions. We have heard so many times via different articles, conversations, television shows to really curtail this way of life. Well, what about those of us who stretch other people too thin? Maybe you have a lot on your plate (there are few of us who don’t) and need assistance from others. Did we ever stop and think that they may have a lot on their plate too? Last week I received a check from one of the survey companies I work with on a regular basis. I asked my husband to cash the check. He could do what he wanted with the money (we use survey funds for snack money at work) which usually means pocketing it. Well, we are going on week two and it is still not cashed. I have complained to him about this and also for not mailing out a stack of bills in a timely manner. Do you know what? I had no idea what he went through to take care of those two tasks. My husband is working in a very stressful position which usually means truncated lunch breaks or eating at one’s desk. I didn’t know this. I also didn’t know that he has to walk 15 minutes one way to mail the bills or make a deposit at the local branch. Here I am asking him to take care of something that really isn’t possible in his current situation. I was upset and he was stressed because I had added something to his plate that could barely fit. The solution is easy- I can simply mail the bills on the way to the post office and the check can take it’s time to be cashed.
A couple of weeks ago a lady from our parish wanted me to commit to cleaning the entire church (all by myself) on a Saturday. She is retired and both she and her husband do handle quite a bit of work for the parish. What was the problem? I already run the parish bookstore, direct choir, handle flowers for the altar (once per month), work with the pro-life movement, work full time, take care of my own home, and handle anything else that comes my way. She didn’t realize that my plate was too full to handle an entire day of cleaning and handle it all by myself. I opted to turn down her request and will continue with what I have been doing which is spurts of cleaning when I can fit it in with everything else. I simply can’t handle more than I have on my plate. The alternative (which may occur in the new year) is to sign up when another lady is cleaning the church the same day. It is too big of a task to handle alone.
So my tip is this, make sure you don’t fill your plate too high, but also make sure you don’t fill the plates of others too high. Sometimes the help we need can come from a spouse instead of the neighbor down the street or relative. Sometimes, we just need to take another activity off of our own plate once or a few times to accommodate another task. Sometimes we just need to threaten our spouses....
What do you think?
