When I’m trying to do too much, when I’m trying to be SUPERMOM!, life has a way of stopping me before I get too invested. If I’m in a hurry to get the kids’ lunch and water bottles for school, you can be sure that I will drop ice on the tile, and it will break into pieces that are scattered and big enough to demand I pick them up or they will leave a puddle that I will surely step in later. If I’m trying to keep running on that treadmill while adjusting the song/volume/headphones on my MP3 player, you can be sure that I will trip and almost fall. And when I’m really missing my husband, you can bet that I will forget my cell phone in the car and miss his call. Not once, but twice.

I believe that the universe tries to send us messages, tries to help us get what we need. If we open ourselves to the messages, they are there for the taking. So what do puddles on the tile, tripping on the treadmill, and missing a call from the other side of the world have in common? That’s my message to slow down. I can’t do everything at once—but the temptation to try is very strong. Some days I throw my hands up, look up to the sky, and ask “why???” I guess I should be more careful about the questions that I ask.

I’m afraid to slow down, afraid to not do 100 things at once, I don’t really want a gut-check moment right now. There are big issues in my life right now, big issues that I don’t really want to think about. So I fill the space, I stay busy. But that’s not a way to live. Good or bad, happy or sad (isn’t that a song?), it’s life and it’s ours to live. It should never be squandered.

So I’ll try harder not to multitask, I’ll try harder to take deep breaths and stay in each moment, and trust that everything will be done in its time, and remember that I’m not doing this alone. I’ll lean on my friends and family and we’ll all get through it together. Isn’t that what it’s all about?