Prioritizing Your New Life

Author: admin

Living life as a widow and a single parent carries a lot of added responsibility. It is certainly a lot easier when you have someone helping you make many of those decisions life can throw at you.

The list can seem endless! You are now working on your own, and you may find it helpful to approach it like “on the job training.” As simple as this may sound, getting things prioritized can really help you get started on the right foot. I confess, it took me a while to get hang of this simple, but effective concept.

I started by making a list of every single thing I would need to do right away, things that required my immediate attention. I would tackle the things I knew I could do alone first. Then, those things that were left that I wasn’t sure how to handle, I would ask for help on. Here’s the encouraging part with each task that I handle: I gained more confidence and that would help me become more prepared for the next one.

Of course, there is the list of the “things that will eventually need to be done.” This list includes things that you know will require much more thought and a lot of planning. It can be daunting in a very different way as these are things that are going to require a lot more of your time and energy. Really try and pace yourself with this list. 

If you have kids, help them prioritize things in their world as well. Encourage them to write out their own lists and work on crossing things off as they finish each task. This can be a good teaching tool for responsibility no matter what your life situation is.

I know those lists may look really long right now, but if you will commit yourself to taking care of something daily or weekly, before you know it, you will have cut them in half and they will start to look a whole lot more manageable.

For me personally, when I wrote out that first list and looked it over, I thought there was no way I could do it. Little by little, however, I did, and completing each task was like a stepping stone to more healing and really just believing in myself.

You can do this!  

“I may not be there yet, but I’m closer than I was yesterday.  ”  ~ Unknown Author

Tammy’s story of “Learning to Live” during a life-changing battle has encouraged and reached so many already and can be found at: www.thebadidas.blogspot.com.