I woke up this morning feeling overwhelmed.  I woke up before my alarm worried about all the things on my to-do list for the day.  My heart started to race, my head started to pound and I was gearing up to have an all-out miserable day.

Then I took a pause.  I stopped to think about what I wanted to get out of today.  Was it really getting through all of those things on the to-do list (most of which I’d put there myself)?  The answer was a resounding NO.

Tonight is a special night in my house – tonight my eight-year-old son has his very first sleepover with a friend.  If you remember your first sleepover, it’s a pretty big deal.  I wanted to be part of that, more than anything else.

It was clear there was no way to get everything on my to-do list done AND show up for my son’s big night and truly be present for it.  So what’s a busy human to do in a case like this?

Take back control.  This is my life and I get to decide how I lead it.  So, I opened my Asana list and started moving things out and even deleting things that weren’t necessary.  And it…was…liberating!!

I highly recommend this exercise to anyone that has ever felt like their life isn’t theirs or that there’s no other choice but to accept a bad day before it begins.  There is a choice.  And the choice is yours to make.  Just start by taking a pause.