One Step at a Time

There has been a lot going on in my life lately. I'm still in training for my new position at work and working hard to get things done correctly and on time. I'm coming up on the last two weeks of the term at school so everything is coming due at once. On top of that I am trying to fulfill my church responsibilities, support others in their callings, do my visiting teaching, and be a good girlfriend.

Occasionally  I have moments when I start thinking about everything that needs done and a feeling of complete overwhelmedness wells up in me it everything seems to be slipping through the cracks.  Even while I am trying to accomplish one task my mind is racing to all the other things that need to be done and in that distracted state I cannot manage to complete anything well.  Then I remember the counsel that President Dieter F. Uchtdorf gave in the October 2010 General Conference: "When stress levels rise... too often we attempt to keep up the same frantic pace or even accelerate. ... It is good advice to slow down a little, steady the course, and focus on the essentials when experiencing adverse conditions. ...My dear brothers and sisters, we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most."

I am learning that when stress comes I can take a step back, focus on one things at a time and before I know it things are getting accomplished and my life in back in order again. I am also learning to focus on the things that matter most. I could spend a few more hours obsessing over my latest school assignment, or I could take that time and visit with a sister in my branch who is struggling and leave uplifted myself. I realized this weekend that one of the best things I did for my school work was to put it away on Friday night and go to a basketball game with my boyfriend. When I went back to my school work on Saturday I was refreshed, focused, and ready to do my very best work. I guess I am every-so-slowly learning to do "all things in wisdom and order; for it is not requisite that [we] should run faster than [we have] strength. [But] it is expedient that [we] should be diligent." (Mosiah 4:27)