Over the weekend, I drove past the unkempt citrus trees that line a major street in my neighborhood. The trees were dense with faded, dry oranges that weighed the branches down to the point where the trees appeared to be frowning.
I’m not a professional horticulturalist, but I do know that to help fruit trees develop juicy, lip-smackin’ fruit you’ve got to prune. The basic premise is this, fruit trees that are properly pruned will not only yield better fruit (often earlier than usual), but they’ll live much longer too.
“I know how those trees feel,” was all I could think as I felt the weight of everything on my plate turn my usual smile into a weary grimace.
The whole tree metaphor isn’t new for me. I had a “tree epiphany” some time ago and wrote about it in 2007. Even still, I’m like the procrastinating fruit cropper who knows she’s supposed to prune her orchard, but is too busy selling oranges to do it. Eventually, she realizes no one is buying her fruit because they’re sour. But it’ll take another full season, at least, to get the fruit back to optimal health and flavor.
When I take stock of my work-life, there is plenty to prune. People often remark, “How do you do it?” I wake up some days wondering something similar, but it’s more like, “Why am I doing it?” And that’s the question I started with as I pruned my work-life this weekend.
First stop – my work.
I work from home as a writer and editor. The flexibility of my work is one of those blessing or curse types of situations. I’m blessed to have the flexibility to pick up my kids after school, but cursed when I can’t seem to let go of my work once the kids are home. I’m blessed with amazing autonomy, but cursed with distraction and occasional lack of discipline (yes, the DVR or Twitter feed sometimes seem more appealing than doing the work involved to get new clients).
Next stop – my home.
Clutter abounds and so do my commitments outside of work and family. I spent time figuring ways to simplify my life. That meant saying “yes” to saying “no” in an effort to enjoy a less crammed and more free-moving calendar. At the same time, I did also say “yes” to quality commitments that enrich me and support my mission.
Final stop – this blog.
For the last few months, I’ve been spinning my wheels trying to figure out how to maintain the momentum of this blog alongside my other priorities as a writer, mother, wife and more. No matter how I spun it, I kept returning to this: the part of this blog that needs pruning is me.
Now, don’t panic, that doesn’t mean I’m abandoning The Integrated Mother. I’m streamlining. More importantly, I’m opening the community and inviting you to contribute your fresh voice to this blog by way of your personal essays and/or articles. In fact, you can look forward to fresh parenting posts from Lynne Kenney, also known as the Family Coach. Please consider sharing your unique voice here as we journey along working motherhood!
Now that I’ve pruned my tree, I feel a bit naked but there certainly is much more freedom in it all. Even still, I eagerly await for the next season of fruit to develop – oh it will be sweet!
image credit: flickr.com/littlegemtrees
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