Last week, Stephanie McPhee – aka The Yarn Harlot – provided the world with what is, in my opinion, quite possibly the best blog post ever written. The post is titled Juggling and in it she discusses her priorities and the fact that she never feels like she is able to do it all – so many things fall to the wayside while she focuses on what she does want to do. She also introduced me to the phrase “dust buffaloes” (the larger and more aggressive cousin to the familiar dust bunny) – a concept I was familiar with (especially with 2 dogs in the house), but I had not seen it named so perfectly before… While the post is wonderful – the comments make it even better.
There are a whole lot of women out there who have set their priorities and are not so worried about the rest. Like many of the commenters, I have farmed out some of the work of maintaining a home so that I can focus on doing the stuff that I enjoy doing (and that pays me to do it). For me, it’s an economic decision – if I closet myself in my office for the amount of time it takes for the maid(s) to do their thing, I can make more money from writing, web development or presentation creation than I pay them. Even if it was a closer thing, though, it would still be worth it because I really hate doing the big stuff – mopping the floor, vaccuming and sweeping and that sort of thing. I don’t really like picking up and doing the dishes, either, but I’ve yet to figure out how to get someone else to do that part for me…
That little digression aside – I’m all for anything that makes my life easier and lets me spend more time doing what I love with the people I love. Stephanie said it well, the folks who commented on that post said it emphatically and I feel the need to say it again – nobody can do it all, we all have to decide what is important and focus on that. If the rest gets left behind and you don’t have a perfect house, or a garden that wins awards or the baking skills of Betty Crocker – it’s ok. Do what you love and hire out what you can!
