how on earth did i manage time to do this?

My life is a like a fish bowl.

Well, okay. My life is a Very Small fish bowl. Without water and fish. I'm not good with fish.

I put large stones in my bowl. It looks full. Then I put in pebbles and shake the jar lightly. The pebbles roll into the open areas between the large stones. The bowl is now full. A box of sand is then poured into the bowl. The sand fills up everything else. The jar must surely be full. Then I pour two cups of tea into the bowl, which fills the empty space between the sand.

Now, the bowl is officially full.

The large stones are the important things in my life – God, my family, health, friends and favorite passions — things that if everything else was lost and only they remained, my life would be full. The pebbles are the other things that matter like my job, house and car. Well, maybe not my car. The sand is everything else — the small stuff.

If I'd put the sand into the fish bowl first there would be no room for the pebbles or large stones. The same goes for life. If I spend all my time and energy on the small stuff, I would never have room for the things that are important to me.

Like blogging.

I can't believe I'm going to say it. But after four days of not doing it, I miss blogging. And, I quickly discovered that even though I had an hour more free time each night, I wasted it on things I didn't enjoy.

Like folding washing. And ironing.

Ugh.

I also realised how much blogging was the reward at the end of my busy day. My quiet time to reflect. The inspiration to finish my tasks quickly. Turns out that my daily 'to do' list isn't the only thing that keeps me focused. If I don't have a goal, I just dawdle my way to the end of the day.

And still go to bed late.

Then, when I don't have to, on my first 'blog free' day, I thought of a million things to write about. I was writing blog entries in my sleep.

So here I am, willingly going at it again. Picking a theme and blogging about it every day.

What do you know? Blogging is one of my passions. One of my big stones. If I reset my priorities, ironing is just sand.

And the cups of tea? No matter how full my life may seem, there’s always room for a cup of tea with friends.