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?
