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My Journey to Simplifying my Home, Business and Family Life

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By Maricel Mendoza of A Sweet Cottage

All of us long for a SIMPLER life — to have a simpler schedule, a less hurried life and to have more time to smell the roses. That was how I felt a year ago, before I took action and started working on SIMPLIFYING.

“The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.”

-Hans Hofmann

I want to share with you events in my life that that helped me to simplify and to get to where I am now, a place where I am content and happy. I will also share with you the reasons that helped me to take action and to make a decision to go for it and start on this journey. Please bear with me as this will be quite a long read, but I hope and pray that you will pick up something from here that will help you on your own journey to simplifying.

After 13 years of teaching in preschool (a job that I loved), I decided to resign. This decision was brought about by the desire to focus on my family and to put their care ahead of my job. Being a stay at home mom, I though that life would be much simpler, schedules would be more flexible and time would be overflowing. This was true at the start. Then I started a home business that immediately took over my schedule and my time. I started an event planning business where I had to work ONLY on the weekends (great deal right?! ), then eventually I added a photography, fondant cake, dessert buffet business that I felt would make a good complement with my existing event planning gig. I just kept on adding and adding to the list of my services as I felt that these were needed to grow the business. I was having a great time, being able to do what I love and being paid for it too! Perfect right?!… Then one day, I just realized the irony of what I was doing. I was home when my family was in school/office and I was working during the weekends when they were at home! I missed going to church a lot because I would be having party set ups on Sundays (this also meant that my family would miss church because I was not there), I missed my children’s varsity games and school activities, I would miss my friends and relatives parties because I was again setting up parties for work. I was defeating the purpose of why I gave up my day job to begin with!

When I realized this, this was the same time that my mom (my best spiritual adviser, and I thank heavens for her!) noticed that I was missing church a lot. She talked to me about my priorities and this started me on my journey to rethink my home life, business and spiritual status.

What I did

1. PRAY AND OBEY.

When I realized that I (and my family) have missed Sunday church for two months straight, this alarmed a lot. When we went back after 2 months, my then 7 year old son did not want to go to Sunday school! Having missed so much classes gave him separation anxiety! When I got home that Sunday afternoon, I went to my home office and started to pray. To really pray for God’s wisdom and guidance. I told him that I was happy with what I was doing, but I believed in my heart that He had greater plans for me. Plans that would continue to bless me as long as I obeyed Him. I wanted to still have my business, but I did not want my family, home and spiritual life to suffer in return. I asked Him to help me make the right decisions and help to prioritize according to His will. I decided to PUT GOD FIRST.

“In everything you do, put God first, and He will direct you and crown your efforts with success.” (Proverbs 3:6) — I held on to this promise! And I still do!

2. PRIORITIZE.

Having realized that I had my priorities all tangled up, I made a simple decision to set my priorities straight. Every time I had to schedule and decide on any activity, I made sure to follow the correct order of what was important in my life. I made sure that I would do what is most important FIRST and work from there. All this time praying for God’s wisdom as I know that my business had to take a back seat and income would not be a priority on my list. Sure I was worried that clients would be turned off when I turned down parties, yes I was afraid that this would end the business that I started and love…but I put my trust in God, knowing that He will take care of me and give me my hearts desire when I obey Him.

             1st:      GOD

            2nd:      Husband

            3rd:      Children

            4th:      Other relationships: Family and Friends

            5th:      Business

bible

3. LISTEN TO THE PEOPLE GOD USES TO BENEFIT YOU.

My mom – my mom is my prayer partner and I look up to her for her wisdom and spiritual guidance. We started praying together about what I should do with my business, she would always tell me that I am to prioritize God and my family and everything else will follow. She would also give me verses from the bible that would encourage and help me in my decisions. These are some of my favorites:

“Commit to the Lord whatever you do and your plans will succeed.”

-       Proverbs 16:3

“Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord.”

-       Colossians 3:23

“Be strong and courageous; do not be afraid, nor be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”

-       Joshua 1:9

mentors

Martine de Luna (a.k.a. Dainty Mom) – I started following Martine’s blog a while back being inspired by her quest to live a lifestyle that suits her family. I was ecstatic when I clicked on her “work with me” tab and found out that she does consulting for small business owners. I felt that God heard my prayers and sent her to me! I emailed her and before I knew it I was talking to her via skype! This fist conversation I remember was going around and around as I did not know where to begin and what to tell her, I did not even know what I wanted out of this consultation! She was the one who guided me through and asked me what were my intentions for the consultations and so on. We worked together in “stream-lining” and simplifying my menu of services that I have added to and added to. She helped me to find my strengths and best skills and to focus on those instead of dabbling into everything. I also told her about the problems I was having with prioritizing and how my home and spiritual life was being sacrificed for the business. She gave me the best advise: Work you business around your lifestyle, instead of the other way around! Brilliant! And so that is what I did!

“A Sweet Cottage” blog and business website was born out of this collaboration! I have gained a great friend along the way too — A sister and kindred spirit.

asweetcottage

TODAY:

Today I am enjoying spending time with God, being with my family, having a business that I love (party set-ups that does not get in the way of my church and family scheduled activities/fondant cake making) and having the time to smell the roses (or craft!). In this journey of SIMPLIFYING that is yet far from over, I learn everyday. I try to the best of my abilities to make decisions according to the priorities that I have set, and that I know is pleasing to God. I love and enjoy every role that I have and give it my all. I am blessed and grateful for it everyday!

“All these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, because you obey the voice of the Lord you God.” (Deuteronomy 28:2)


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