Take It By Force!

Over the past few months, I have given my readers (those of you who actually follow my blog) some openings into the personal lives of "The Joneses." I am a very transparent person, and George is my polar opposite. He won't admit to being tired, he'll just sit around for a few days attempting to complete tasks that all end up half or incorrectly done. I don't fault him, he's a 19 year US Marine veteran (who may be going back on orders soon), and he's a Mississippi country boy. His ways are sometimes as stealth as those of the Samurai. After being married to him for a few years, I can tell when he is on the verge of a burn out, but I also know the "Semper Fi" (always faithful) side of him and his need to provide won't allow him to rest. He recently took on a new position with the ministry we are a part of. Because he takes everything he does extremely serious, he has been running non stop for the past 4 going on 5 weeks. As you well know, I reached my burn out stage several weeks prior, and am now attempting to off-load some of my unnecessary responsibilities. George, on the other hand, is looking for more tasks to add to his already full plate, that will allow him to generate more funds to maintain his societal obligations. Business is slow right now because I have not dedicated the necessary time to GROW-ing my business due to my commitment to ministry, but our businesses are what pay our bills.

What do you do when organizations continue to add to your full plate? You just say no! I learned it in school, when someone offers you something that is not good for you (i.e., drugs) you "Just Say No." Perhaps the most beneficial campaign Nancy Reagan created, and yet we only applied it to drugs in life. Our phones ring all times of the night, mainly because we continue to answer the calls. People have began to realize that we are the couple who is committed to carrying out whatever task is set before us, no matter what sacrifices we have to make. If we do not make a change, it may eventually cost us our marriage. We have been at each other's throats for a few weeks. We recognize it now as being extremely exhausted and not having spent any real time together outside of work. While we manage to escape late nights after we've put our 6 year old son to bed, it's not enough time because shortly thereafter we are sleeping ourselves. It's time we take a more serious role in our vacation!

I am demanding a two week vacation at the end of November. We typically travel to Mississippi to visit George's side of the family for a week during Thanksgiving, perhaps we should extend it to two weeks. We will take an additional two weeks in December during Christmas when our son has off from school, so that we can just lounge around the house in pajamas all day watching Christmas movies and eating junk food. Waiting for a little break in the storm has not proven to be a successful method in determining when would be a good time to take a vacation. We are gonna take one by force, in the middle of the storm, because when we get back the world will not have tilted off it's axis, it will still revolve around the sun and take 1 year to complete it's cycle. Sometimes you must do what is necessary for the sake of sanity, after all mental health affects physical health, and if we are unable to run our businesses because we have worn physical selves out, then how will we eat? Time off from obligations is an important part of business as well. We have not had a vacation in over 5 years and it's time we learn balance!