Nothing Brings Clarity Like a Trip to the ER

God has quite a sense of humor. 

Last week, I wrote a lovely blog about Areas of Focus in our lives:  what they are, how to identify them, how to clarify them. 

This week, I’ll share how that all got to put to the test this past weekend.

The incident

I’ve traveled quite a lot for work in the past few weeks.  It’s all been very good, but as you know, time away from home and work usually means that some things are going to pile up.  So this past Saturday morning, I was really looking forward to an entire day in my home office, catching up on some things and making a dent in the burgeoning to-do list.

After all, I’ll admit that I actually have three separate (but related) Areas of Focus that relate to work:  Entreprenuer, Coach, Contractor.  (Don’t judge me… it’s the season of life I’m in.)  I don’t work every Saturday, but this was one that was ear-marked for work, and I was actually pretty eager for it.

It was a fairly productive morning.  A quick break for lunch.  Then…

A phone call that resulted in me rushing from the house and spending the rest of the day with an injured family member in the emergency room. 

(Thankfully, everything is ok, tragedy was averted, and healing will happen.  I’ll spare you the details.  And obey HIPAA laws.)

The aftermath

Suffice it to say, no further work was done on Saturday.  And on Sunday I was still too uneasy and exhausted to be able to focus on meaningful tasks.  I knew that this was normal, and understandable, but it was still frustrating to me to not be able to be productive.  While I tried to allow myself to take it easy, I could still feel the weight of the to-do list.

The insight

The one task I pushed myself to concentrate on was my process of weekly review and planning.  I knew that I needed to reset my mind, my heart, and my weekly commitments and action steps in order to move into this week in a better mindset and with a clear plan.

Part of my weekly review process is to review my Areas of Focus, and to read the “I am” statements I’ve written about how I want to live in those areas of life in the next 1-2 years.  I review those statements, and I look back at the past week to consider how I moved toward (or sometimes away from) those goals in the previous week.

Sometimes, this is pretty cursory step, and I don’t pay a lot of attention.  Other times, I get smacked upside the head.  This past Sunday was the latter.

One of my Areas of Focus is “Family.”  I read my statement:  “I am connected to and attentive to my family and regularly present to them, offering support and help.”

When that phone call came, and throughout the critical moments when I was unsure about my loved one’s status, work didn’t matter.  I’m sure you’ve had similar moments in life – moments when suddenly things that you thought were important weren’t at all important, and you have intense clarity about the things that are most important.  I don’t like those moments – because they are usually terrifying – but I’ll admit that they really bring home the point of Areas of Focus! 

OK, God, message received.  Not all Areas of Focus are equal in importance.  What felt like a failure in a couple of work-related Areas of Focus was actually a huge win in a much more important Area of Focus. 

That moment of reviewing my Areas of Focus and “I am” statements immediately changed my perspective and helped me re-write my internal narrative of my weekend.  In this revised version, I recognized and celebrated the ways in which I’d honored my commitment to my family.  I adjusted my expectations of myself in terms of work and lifted some of the weight of the to-do list.  And I gave thanks to God for helping me see that in my Jar of Life, some of the big rocks are bigger than the others.

What do you think?

But enough about my drama!  I wanted to share this story as a way of offering perspective and as an “example of this stuff in action.”

What does this story help you to realize about your own priorities? 

How does my experience this weekend connect with something in your story? 

How have your Areas of Focus or “I am” statements been tested?

And how has any of that impacted how your lead your life?

I’d love to continue the conversation, so send me an email or leave a comment!