STRONG IDEA: Narrow Your Priorities
By Emily Stapleton on October 16, 2013 from Strong Ideas
I’ve been absent for a while, but I’m not going to apologize. I haven’t instructed a workout for a week and I haven’t written a blog in over two weeks. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been working.
Have you ever been moving full speed ahead, going through all the motions, feeling productive and successful; then boom – life throws you a curve ball? In an instant, everything that was important no longer is.
While most of my blog posts are about simple choices you can make to live a healthier life, this post is about the bigger picture and how you sometimes have to shift your focus to a very narrow set of priorities. I think the paid work that my husband and I do is pretty important. I help people live healthier lives and he “puts bad guys in jail.” But we’d both drop it all in a heartbeat for our more important work: caring for our family.
A little over a week ago, my family started the day like any other hectic Monday. I led a 5:30 a.m. workout, got the kids ready for school and on the bus, sent my husband off to work and headed to the Benedum Civic Center to lead another workout. My mind was racing with all that we had going on in the upcoming week: School and extracurricular activities, marketing for my business, marathon training, preparing for the upcoming Trick or Trot 5K.
Then, in an instant, everything changed. We received the tragic and unexpected news that my husband’s father had died. I immediately forgot about the daily grind and shifted my focus to caring for my family and grieving the loss of my father-in-law. For the next week, I focused solely on meeting the immediate needs of my family. Specifically, my priorities became:
- Supporting my husband, his siblings, and their mother as they did the incredibly difficult work of planning a funeral.
- Helping my children, as well as myself, understand why it was Papa’s time to go be with God. And finding the time and energy to pray for understanding and strength.
- Making sure all of us had the proper nourishment and hydration. I know that sounds simple, but it is must be done.
- Ensuring that everyone had some time for physical activity. I feel strongly that we can all cope better if we stay active.
- Being together as a family…crying, laughing, eating, running, playing, sleeping.
While it was a busy week, it was a different kind of busy. We left behind the daily grind to truly care for one another. I think Papa would have been proud.
Now, I’m back. The daily grind is still here and we have to jump back in, but I’ll be doing so with a renewed sense of what’s important in this life and the next.
Until Next Week,
Emily Stapleton
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