Are you so busy juggling your personal and work lives, that you’re overlooking what truly matters in your life?
Here’s a story that illustrates the importance of not letting what we truly value get overshadowed by the busyness of our lives.
Almost thirty years ago, when I was practicing law in Pittsburgh, PA, I was preparing one morning to race out the door at 6am to catch the bus downtown to my firm. Suddenly, my seven-year-old son trotted down the stairs in his pajamas and called out – “Mom – I want to have breakfast with you!”
I would have loved to have breakfast with Lance BUT I really wanted to be at work early so I could have an efficient start to my day. So, I encouraged him to go back to bed assuring him that we’d have breakfast together another day.
That morning was like many other ones when I was practicing law in a big firm. I’d leave home early after assuring Lance that “we’d have breakfast another day” and often return late in the evening after he was asleep.
Although I did feel twinges of guilt about not spending much time with my only child, I rationalized that I could make up for all the missed breakfasts and dinners and soccer games with “quality time” on weekends.
It would all be fine…. until it wasn’t.
About a year later, I was rudely awakened to the fact that I had outsourced my parenting to Lance’s live-in nanny.
I realized that in my quest to “have it all” I had made my career my top priority. Therefore, I delegated the day-to-day activities involving my son – like meals, school pickups, and sports practices – to his nanny and tried to make up for it by smothering him with attention during a few hours of “quality time” each week.
That wakeup call prompted me to re-assess my priorities and take bold action to align my life with my values. As a result, I walked away from a 15-year legal career and reinvented myself as an entrepreneur which afforded me the flexibility to design my career around my life priorities instead of shaping my life around my career.
Over the next eleven years, Lance and I enjoyed many breakfasts together – as well as after school snacks, family dinners and soccer games!! I’m so grateful to have many wonderful memories of his childhood as well as a great relationship with him that continues to this day!!
How about you?
Is there a precious person in your life who’s been asking “to have breakfast with you?”
Our loved ones won’t wait on the sidelines of our life forever. Children grow up and leave home. Parents grow old. Friends and siblings move away.
If you place a high value on your family and your relationships and there’s a special person in your life – whether it’s a child, a parent, a spouse, a sibling, or a friend – who’s been asking to spend more time with you, don’t keep putting them off.
Consider this your wakeup call to give these relationships the priority they deserve in your day – your week – your life.
The gift of time together is the greatest gift you can give them and yourself.
