We have more than likely all heard the saying, that you can’t pour from an empty cup. While true, there’s another truth that often goes unnoticed.
Picture this: you have a toddler sitting on the floor, toys scattered everywhere, and they have found… a box. Or at least some sort of container. They begin filling this container with blocks and figures and all the things. They wedge those toys in, fitting as many as possible. They fill it to the brim with things and when they are ready to dump it out? It jams.
The toddler is upset and frustrated. The parent is overwhelmed and possibly frustrated (because where did they find that sandwich to stuff in here too??).
But guess what?
We grown folks… we do the same thing with our time and resources and talents. We fill our schedules with things and sometimes, it creates jams where it matters most.
We miss out on the little things that we forget to leave room for.
Everything has a time and place. But sometimes, like the toddlers, we rush and wedge and shove things to “make it fit.”
When was the last time you emptied out your schedule and refilled your cup so that you can pour into your business? Pour into your family? Have you ran so hard, so fast, and forced a schedule to work that has left you burnt out and wondering “what am I even doing?”
When you have too much to do and not enough time, there’s a method for filling your life with intention. Take a jar (I like a good ole mason jar, personally) and imagine you have big rocks, gravel, sand, and a cup of coffee.
If you fill the jar with the sand and gravel first, there may not be room for the big rocks in your life.
But if you put the big rocks (which represent the things that matter most in your life) in first, there is room left around the rocks for the gravel (which is still of high importance, but at a second level to the big rocks). Then, with the big rocks and gravel in place, there’s still room for the sand (which are the less important things that still need to be done) to cascade into the crevices around the rocks and gravel. The coffee? Well, the coffee pours right over the top, so that there is always room for a cup of coffee with a friend.
Be mindful of how you fill your life and schedule. Be mindful of your priorities. When our priorities are in line, everything in life falls into place in a way that we can pour into others much better and much less painfully than when we force ourselves to fit into the “schedule.”
Much love,
Dacey
