#ChooseJoy
- krmuwumba1
- Feb 6, 2017
- 2 min read
Full disclosure part I: flexibility is not my strongest attribute. My schedule is meticulously mapped out as far as I can possibly make it and the term "last minute" is not a part of my vocabulary. Yes... I'm THAT person.
Full disclosure part II: I was a bit of a "grumpy gills" last week. Work was discouraging and it really consumed most of my thoughts and attitude for a good part of the week. Needless to say, I was not the funnest person to be around.
Well.. today is Monday and I'll admit a good case of "the Monday's" was starting to creep up on me and then my dad, who's suffering from a collection of chronic illnesses, had a pretty rough patch these past couple of days. Last week i ended up working from home for most of the day Thursday and Friday to be sure he was ok, and was hoping today would be the start of beautiful productivity (see above mentioned schedule). I had meetings to attend and a very fabulous to-do list. Then as I watched my dad, it became clear that he really shouldn't be left alone today as welly and I knew I needed to switch gears. All while I was still in that ever so pleasant previously stated mood. It was then that I realized I needed to give myself a definite attitude adjustment. My lousy mood was not doing anyone any favors and definitely not helping me tackle my to-do list. And God pretty much opened my eyes and told me, "Baby girl (that's how I feel like God refers to me), you don't HAVE to stay home and take care of your dad. You GET to." Talk about something stopping me in my tracks as I realized what a true privilege it was that I could make the the accommodations necessary to work from home today: I'm able to do one of my meetings via Google Hang Out and a majority of my work is on the Cloud and the rest can be moved over to another list for another day.
Owning your own business(es) isn't hanging out in your pjs, sipping coffee, and sporadically getting work done when you want, it's gnarly and hard. BUT you are able to be blessed with flexibility from time to time when your family needs you. And that my friends, is where the title of this post comes from. I need to choose joy in the midst of the chaos that is far from what I would normally prefer. I need to choose joy that I didn't have a crazy huge list of meetings that I couldn't rearrange (that's tomorrow's schedule :) ), I need to choose joy that technology helps me not to be dead in the water and still fulfill my responsibilities, I need to choose joy that I'm surrounded by countless people who are so gracious and understanding. Sometimes it's not easy to choose joy, it takes effort, that's why it's a choice. Let me hope I can carry this on throughout the week even in the midst of the roadblocks, chaos, and discouragement, because really... having joy feels so much better and is far more productive, than...well...not.
