Can One Party Too Much?

Life is pretty crazy in my household right now. Going through my calendar and thinking, "wow, I'm planning too much!"

I've decided to throw my mom a 75th birthday party in September! Plans for that are underway. Menus, invitations, catalogues for gift ideas, etc, are in a box taking up space in my family room. My husband's birthday is also in September, and both my kids follow that up with birthdays in the fall which I haven't even begun to plan.

My girl scout troop is going to Washington DC next year to celebrate the 100 anniversary of girl scouts!!! Yay! But organizing parents and girls for this is huge! Funraising alone is a full time job. I have an entire cabinet stuffed with binders of papers dedicated to this trip. Everyday there are forms to fill out, money to deposit, calls to make, parents to email.

Then there is the biggie for me as an author - the release of Say You'll Be Mine!! I'm working with my publicist at Grand Central, who is wonderful, setting up the launch book signing event, as well as other tour events and speaking engagements. I'm writing articles and blogs. Might try to make a book trailer if I can figure how how. Working on a new book idea. Searching for a new agent. This makes my office a danger zone with piles of paperwork and files and books, and planners everywhere.

These are just the things that I'm planning and doesn't include birthdays, mixers, meetings, BBQ's, recitals and family gatherings I've been invited to. So, I'm starting to wonder if I'm planning too much. Should I leave some time to kick back and watch TV? Clean my house? Sleep? As I jot everything into my planner, I question my sanity. Do I really want to do all this stuff? Sometimes it's exhausting and I think I don't.

But, wait, I want to celebrate the release of my book. And can't wait to watch my mom blow out 75 candles (okay, I won't make her do that). And am going to love watching my scouts faces as they travel to our capital and meet hundreds of other girls from across the nation. And I enjoy visiting with friends and supporting them at their events, and going to meetings for groups that I believe in, and all the other things that I do. I love all of it!

So as I end another week where I've gone to bed at midnight or one in the morning only to wake up at five, I remind myself that the reason I'm tired is because all the things I've got planned take work. And the work is worth it, because the things I want are worth it.

I wanted to share all this with you, because maybe you too have huge goals that take a lot of time and effort and you end your week feeling drained. But I want to encourage you to keep at it, whatever it might be. Careers. Great relationships. Your health. Maybe a great garden. None of it just shows up in your life. You have to work hard for it. But the day will come, when you'll get what you're after.

Hope everyone has a GREAT weekend!

Julia