I’ve been working on balancing my life and cutting down on things I don’t really need. My husband is pretty smart when it comes to thinking rationally and clearly. Whenever I feel overwhelmed he tells me to check yo’ priorities, woman. Well, not in those words. He encouraged me to write down my top three priorities and just focus on those. 

So this inspired me to write down every single thing that I think about every day and pick out what really matters. So I wrote it all down. Does your list sound familiar to mine? If you have kids, I imagine yours is much longer than mine. 

1. Be present, organized and a good employee for my day job 
2. Keep the apartment clean
3. Blog on a consistent schedule
4. Make and keep up with a social media plan
5. Keep my desk organized
6. Organize work materials
7. Cook dinner
8. Recipe testing and photography and videography
9. Keeping up with Link’s stuff (vet visits, baths, medication, etc)
10. Keep up with my allergy shots 
11. Keeping up with prescription refills 
12. Packing Nick’s lunch everyday 
13. Keeping my car clean
14. Work out 
15. Laundry
16. Keeping my computer organized
17. Improving my photography
18. Improving pageviews and SEO on my website
19. Making more videos
20. Saving up for a house
21. Spending less on groceries 
22. Drinking enough water 
23. Wish I had time to play the piano (feel sad that there’s no space to set up my piano)
24. Wish I had time to paint (feel sad that there’s again no room to set up my painting stuff)
25. Wish it didn’t take 45 minutes to blow dry my hair and get dressed in the morning

The list could go on and on. I don’t know about you, but its overwhelming to think that all of these things need to be done every day, or at least thought about, every day. If it doesn’t need to be done, it at least runs through my head once that I should be doing it. 

Then I thought to myself. What am I missing everyday by worrying about all this stuff? 

1. I have the privilege to live another day that many, many others don’t. Sounds morbid but it’s true. I get to wake up and start each new day with a clean slate, and how present I am in that day is all up to me. 
2. I have a loving husband who comes home each day, albeit frequently exhausted from work, but rightly so as he is working his butt off to do well in his career so he can provide for our family someday. 
3. My body is functioning, healthy, and miraculous. 
4. I have a wonderful job that’s interesting and helps others every single day. 

Once you get started thinking about the positive things in your life, you get this feeling in your chest that everything’s going to be okay. That’s the power of gratitude. 

So after reevaluating my list, I decided that there’s only three items that really need my attention every day:

• Doing well at my day job, as this is the biggest part of my career 
• Keeping the apartment clean, as this gives both me and my husband a sense of calm (I’m terribly messy)
• Nourishing the relationship with my new husband

Everything else on my list can be added to my calendar or planner, and scheduled ahead of time. There’s no need to constantly think about everything when all I need to focus on is the present moment and take each task as they come up. As long as I focus on those three things, everything else should fall into place. 

What would you consider your top priorities? How do you manage all of life’s tasks?