Editing Life

In his new book, START, Jon Acuff references 5 stages of adult life.

1. Learning (20s)

2. Editing (30s)

3. Mastering (40s)

4. Harvesting (50s)

5. Guiding (60s)

Although the age groups of these stages are not true for everyone, so far it has been true for my life.  I took my 20s head on and although I will never stop learning, have taken advantage of as many opportunities as possible.  Other than graduating from college and getting a job, I took advantage of nearly every opportunity to get more involved in my school, school district, church, and other personal endeavors.  I worked multiple jobs, developed an incredible network of friends, experienced a lot of really cool stuff, and of course Katy and I welcomed a baby boy into our family.

Well I only have a few days left in my 20s as my 30th birthday is right around the corner.  After this past "crazy season" it is time to do some editing.  How do I know its time?  Because I've had something on my schedule every single evening for the last 9 days.  That doesn't include my day job or being a husband or father!  

So I have begun the editing process.  I'm creating a list of everything I am involved in, all of the roles I play and all of the hats I wear.  There are a lot of good things on this list and I hate to bow out and say no as they are all for a good cause.  But I'm learning that sometimes you have to say no to lot of good things in order to say yes to the best things like leading my wife and young son.

As I've done some editing, I've already taken off 5 hats.  And with each hat that comes off and with each good role I give up, that is extra time I will be able to spend with my family.

Editing your life is an incredibly reflective process and I have learned so much about myself and my priorities.  I still have a long way to go as I have only begun.  Just to be clear, if I could do these things all over again, I probably would.  In fact, I am encouraging others to take my spot.  However, in this particular stage of life, its best to let someone else enjoy these good things while I take advantage and enjoy the best things. 

The Best Things!

What stage are you in?  Do you need to do some editing?  Do you need to give up some good things to have more time for great things?

Balance

I almost had it.  I felt like it was in my grasp.  After 29 years of life, 12 years of school, 4.5 years of college, 5 years of marriage, 6 years in the professional world, 2 years of graduate school, and lots of learning along the way I almost felt like my life was balanced.

When I speak of balance I mean the ability to have all of the aspects of life work in harmony with one another.  Routines, habits, work, worship, play, friends, family, exercise, hobbies, and all of the other side roles we play fall into place and work nicely with one another.  

And then we had a baby.  In our opinion, the cutest baby on the planet.  And once sweet little Beau Bradley came into our lives we were back out of balance, in the best way possible.  

Through prayer, reading books, listening to sermons, speaking with mentors, and listening to those with more experience, I'm learning to be unbalanced.  Or maybe I should say I'm learning to balance fewer things.  I'm learning to balance being a Husband, Father, & Educator and let everything else fall into place in one way or another.

I've been learning through many avenues how to let go.  I can only control so much and in the grand scheme of things I really don't have control of anything anyway.  

I know who holds tomorrow and I know it's never me.

Are you balanced?  Should you be?