Life’s sense of humor can slap you right in the ol’ kisser sometimes. Last week I wrote a blog about some non-negotiable things in my life to help me stay on track because we can’t do it all. One of these items was our house cleaner. For the past ten years, I’ve relied on our sweet friend to show up and help us keep our craziness alive by taking the burden of cleaning our house off my plate. I didn’t get the blog published because we were at a dance competition that weekend, and I just never wrapped it up. The night I was going to post it, I received a text from our house cleaner that she was going to be done cleaning for us after almost 11 years.
First and foremost, I’m pretty sure she reads my blogs, so I need to say there are no hard feelings. She is so valued as a helper in our house and a friend. We wish her the best of luck and thank her for all of the burdens she’s lifted, all of the grace she’s given our messes, and all of the smiles she’s brought into our home. She came into our lives when our daughter was born and I needed physical therapy for my back. What was supposed to be temporary help quickly turned into a permanent position because she did such an amazing job. Replacing her will be impossible because there are few people we trust being in our home alone, especially with our professions.
When I shared the news with my family, my daughter actually submitted a resume stating all of the things she can clean and tried to persuade me to hire her since she wants to buy a car someday. She’s 10, but she’s a planner! I’d love to hand over the cleaning responsibilities to her, but she’s literally never home due to all of her activities. So we had a family meeting and discussed how things will be changing, which means everyone has to pull a little bit more weight.
We came up with some ideas together, but we didn’t fully solve the issue because it can’t happen overnight. The kids are now transitioning into baseball and softball, so availability is going to change each night, which changes responsibilities. Before we set anything in stone, we’ll trial chores and see who is best fit, especially with cleaning the toilet. 😉
I then had a very serious conversation with TG after finding out we’d need to add cleaning our house to our plate. I know this sounds very first world probs, but my anxiety has been super high already with work and this business. I’m focusing so much energy on the backend and learning strategies that thinking about adding six extra hours a week into my schedule for cleaning is pushing me over the edge. But here’s the beautiful thing about husbands (most times). He said to me, “So who cares if our house isn’t perfect?” My reply was, “I’m literally focusing my business on helping busy families be organized and productive, but I’m failing myself.” He then said, “You’re also working two full-time jobs and most people aren’t. If this is the worst thing happening to us right now, we’re ok.” I took that to heart more than he’ll know.
I am doing a million things from the time I wake up to the time I go to bed, and I really can’t do it all. I fear that I’m a hypocrite because my house is lived in. But then I realize that it’s no one’s place to judge me, and I would not judge a client. I know how to get it together, but in order to grow my business, I’m spending my evening hours concentrating on how to help others instead of spending this time on my own house. I started this endeavor to bring beauty and order to clients’ chaotic world. Focusing on helping others do this is bringing more chaos and less order in my life right now.
My world is chaotic, but it’s also beautiful. Some things are more orderly than others, but this is my right now. It’s not my forever. In order to make dreams come true, sacrifices need to be made. We can’t do it all, but we can do our best. And that’s exactly what I’m doing.
