Fall has just begun in the US. It is a season known for change. Schools, weather gets cooler, leaves change color and fall, baseball and football overlap, Daylight Savings ends, days are shorter, so many changes. But what season are you in?

Frantic? High stress job?

Busy? Kids, work, relationships, aging parents?

Do you feel like this place looks?

Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 preset photo: glen noble via unsplash

When I found myself in the middle of the “soccer mom” season I discovered the solution to all my problems. I found the solution within the pages of a book with a one word title:

Dr. Richard Swenson discovered from his medical practice that his patients were suffering from a common disease; one that couldn’t be fixed by a pill or orange juice. It was stress. His prescription? Create more margin in your life.

Say No more to opportunities that take time away from your priorities.

Guard open space on the calendar as a commitment to each other and yourself.

Make time to care for your soul.

Get outdoors daily.

Create a financial budget and stick to it.

Create a daily/weekly/monthly time budget and stick to it.

I found that creating wider margins in these four areas: financial, physical, emotional and spiritual, made all the difference in my sanity as a wife & mom. Wider margins also gave me more discretionary time to be with God and with friends. These changes didn’t happen in our family overnight. And we still ebb and flow with what area needs greatest focus.

The beauty of creating margin is that you determine how wide they need to be for your season of life. If an area isn’t working well, you already have a sense of it. If an area is going smoothly then apply an old saying: “If if ain’t broke, don’t fix it!”

As you Lean Into Change with me this month, I’ll be asking some coaching questions for you to explore. Here are 3 to get you started:

When you look at the list above, what is one area that you already feel you have a sense of wide margin?

What is one area that speaks to you the most as an area to widen your margins?

As we go through this month and Lean Into Change, what can you commit to re-prioritizing as a time budget item?

(I am an Amazon affiliate; if you choose to purchase this book from the link above, I will receive financial compensation)