My family and I have been working really hard on some pandemic projects over the past few months. Mostly, the projects have been connected with a lot of purging- who knew infant/toddler clothes could take up so much space!? I swear that stuff breeds while in storage…
“Clutter is anything that doesn’t belong in a space- whether it belongs elsewhere in your home, or it doesn’t belong in your home any longer.”
– Unknown
Over this extended weekend, we finally had our yard sale to get rid of all the extra clutter (double hurray for extra money to throw at our debt snowball and more room in the house!), and I had a major personal win that has nothing to do with clearing physical items out of my home.
I didn’t work on or in my business the entire weekend.
Nothing.
Nada.
Zilch.
That’s not even the most important part. I realized before bed last night that, not only did I not work, I didn’t have the big internal fight with myself that I should be doing something work related. I went an entire long weekend feeling no guilt for not thinking about my business.
Now, if you are not a business owner, or you don’t work in career that you’re highly passionate about, I can understand if you don’t see why this is a big deal. For me, however, this is a huge milestone. I have spent the last several years, particularly since becoming a mom, trying to set good and realistic work/life boundaries. It’s always been (and still is) a work in a progress.
You know the drill- one step forward, two steps back.
Some days are successful, many others feel like an epic failure.
Etc. Etc.
I had gotten pretty good about not physically doing much work at home, but there were always those feelings of guilt for not returning that email or phone call, or not touching enough items on my to-do list. I was still allowing the “work clutter” to take up space in my head during the time that my family and friends should be filling the prime real estate in my brain.
That’s just as exhausting as not having the boundary in the first place, and it certainly isn’t fair to those who should be getting my attention during those non-work hours.
I’m sure this isn’t the first time I’ve successfully not brought home “work clutter”, but this weekend was the first time I realized that the hard work I had been doing to maintain my boundaries had successfully transitioned into a habit.
Do you have boundaries that you have successfully made a habit? Are you working toward making some of your boundaries a habit? Share them below in the comments- let’s celebrate progress!