Picking Your Priorities

Last month, I flew down to the Florida Christian Writers Conference.

As a writer, I attend writers conferences not only to continue to learn about the craft of writing but also to network and fellowship with other like-minded people. We writers are known to be a bit introverted, with I am most certainly not.  Since writing is known to be a lone profession, it can run down your internal battery a bit and so I got to conferences to become rejuvenated and energized.

However, there are only so many conferences one can attend when you live on a budget, which in most cases we all do. So it becomes hard sometimes to choose where to go and chose between the options.

Many times, those choices come based on family, finances, and other obligations.

It’s not easy having to choose between what we WANT and what we NEED. It downright sucks at the time, just saying.

Almost two years ago, we sold our house and moved. Where we ended up, wasn’t the place I intended. However, it was the best place for my family at this time. And that is what is most important.

Sometimes we put aside our individual wants to do what is best for the whole.

It’s called being a parent. It’s called loving others before we love ourselves ( to a certain extent ).

If you’ve ever plopped down on the couch and watched those house hunter shows, then you can understand how choosing one thing over another is hard. In those shows, they get three houses to choose from and from those houses, they have to prioritize which house is the best one for them, for their family.

Recently, I had to step away from a source of income that had become too demanding to allow me to keep up with the needs of my family.

My husband, my children. Those are my #1 priority in my life.

There is a lot of stuff we can screw up in this world and fail at, but if I screw up my kids I can’t go back and fix them. They need me now. God choose me to be their mother for a reason. My family takes priority over everything else.

My #2 priority is being a supportive.

Being supportive of our spouses, especially those who work outside of the home so we can stay home is an incredible blessing. Supporting our children in their dreams and directing them in their path to adulthood is so important. Even if you know that dream may fail, the more important part is you were there with them on the journey and you are there to give them a hand when they decide to go another direction.

All the other things in my life, I do out of the passion and love I have for those endeavors and the people I come to know. At the time they can feel like priorities. Promises, commitments, and support to those in circles and communities, but none of them more necessary then the priorities above.

Depending on family situations, having an income source can be a priority. We can learn to get by on what we have as long as we see what we have in comparison to what we desire and don’t fall in the trap of having to compare ourselves and our family to others.

My family and our lifestyle are not the same as others. It’s what makes us the Lowers and it is what makes your family who you are.

What are your priorities this year? Have they changed this year compared to last year?