The breakfast dishes are still strewn across the table. There are four loads of washing waiting to be folded, and a load in the machine that has been washed, then re-rinsed and spun three times already…over the course of the last two days. The chaos in the playroom is too much to bear. The living room rug looks like a war zone of homeless plastic figurines, miscellaneous puzzle pieces and squashed crackers, and don’t even ask me when I last mopped the floor. The work deadlines are a weight pushing down upon my shoulders and my head is abuzz with sports day lunch orders, assembly costumes and dance rehearsal times.
The overwhelm threatens to..well, overwhelm. And I don’t do so well with overwhelm.
I know I have a choice.
I can choose to be over whelmed. Or I can be thankful.
Thankful that we have breakfast to eat.
Thankful we have clean laundry.
Thankful that my girls play wonderfully together (most of the time).
Thankful that we have somewhere comfortable to sit as a family.
Thankful that my kitchen bench is relatively clean, even if my floors are not.
Thankful for work and school and hobbies to enjoy.
I can be thankful and I can start. Just start.
Although the urge to run away, to escape, is strong I choose a spot and start.
For me, starting involves a garbage bag and a laundry basket. I swoop from room to room, scooping up toys that need re-homing into the basket and rubbish into the bag. While my home will never look like the show homes in the magazines or the calm and organised spaces in my Pinterest feed, I always feel better as the clutter starts to clear.
The toys are quickly returned to their rightful homes.
Breakfast dishes make it to the sink.
I tackle the laundry pile like a quarterback. Bribing Cajoling the girls to help. They laugh as they run back and forth to their rooms delivering folded clothes to drawers. I know they won’t make it to the drawers in quite the same state but anyway and anywhere has to be better than strewn across the couch.
As I start to see a little order amidst the craziness my shoulders relax, just a touch. I start to breathe just a little more deeply.
I so often find that I just feel like I cannot breathe in the overwhelm. The stuff. The should-dos. The right nows.
And we all need to breathe. Which is why it is important to start.
Where do you need to start?
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Christie Burnett is an early childhood teacher, presenter, writer and the editor of Childhood 101. More importantly, she is a Mum who believes wholeheartedly in the value of children learning through play, the importance of quality early education, and the togetherness of family.
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