When Rocks Need to be Rearranged

(I considered making the title of this post, “When Rocks Get Thrown At You.”)

You can never tell at the beginning of a new year what changes will take place by the end of the year.  You can make your goals and set out working on them, but you need to have the flexibility needed to make changes as life happens.

I’ve been plugging a long working on my goals and things are going well.  I haven’t given up on anything and I’m enjoying the pace I’ve set.

But two things have crept into 2013 that I wasn’t expecting.  We were asked by my in-laws to see if we could plan a visit.  My in-laws moved out of state to a town with the population of 250 people seven years ago. My husband decided a while back that we would visit my in-laws every three years.  This is not the year we were suppose to visit so it wasn’t in the budget or time plan for this year.  In order to make this visit happen, something else is going to have to go. This means my goal to take the family to Family Camp in the Santa Cruz mountains is going to have to come off of my list for 2013.

The perfectionist in me is having a hard time taking something off of my list. But there’s only so much room in our jar.  One rock has to come out to make room for a new one. 

I’ve recently had another opportunity come up that will change the way I structure my time.  I’ve been asked to join the Board of Directors for the theatre I perform at.  They would like my help with keeping information about the shows updated with the local newspapers and their website.  I’m excited to help out, but before I said yes, I discussed things with my husband and we weighed the commitment against the priorities I’ve set in place for this year.  My husbands exact words were, “You have worked hard getting all of your rocks in place.  I just don’t want to see your hard word get compromised.”

When I told my girlfriend about it she asked, “So you’re adding a new rock?”

Nope. It’s just a very big pebble.  So, I dropped my ballet class and a mom’s prayer group.  I’ll need to budget my time more diligently, but I really think this is going to be a fun new addition to my jar.  It does fit under my “personal fulfillment rock” which is performing in the theatre.  Helping out in an area I love will help feed my soul.

How is your year shaping up? Have you had to make changes to adjust to unexpected opportunities?  What would have to change if something new did come up?

If you are enjoying the My Rocks in Jar Blog.  Please share with others by clicking on the icons below.  You can tweet, share on Facebook, email, Google+, the possibilities are endless....