Spinning Plates

People who get to know the crazy chaos and business of my life often ask "How do you do it all?" My answer is I don't. I sometimes compare my life to the old variety show act where a man tries to spin individual dinner plates on the tip of tall, thin poles.  He keeps starting more and more plates, rushing back and forth to re-spin plates that are starting to wobble, trying to prevent any plate from slowing to the point of falling off the pole and shattering. I often feel like I'm trying to keep the plates in my life spinning.  Occasionally one falls and shatters. So, I don't do it all. Sometimes a plate doesn't get enough attention and it drops. Hopefully it is a relatively unimportant plate, but once in a while it is a very  important plate that I drop.  At times like that I have to face the music, admit what happened and promise to try to do better.  

That is how I try to do it all. By knowing that I will sometimes fail, and when that happens, reminding myself that the occasional failure is something that I strive to avoid, but is a predictable part of what I have chosen to attempt. If you take on parenting, you will fail.. hopefully on small things, hopefully not often.  But occasional failure is part of the deal. If you take on parenting other people's children, you can count on failing occasionally.  The more plates you are juggling, the higher the risk of a plate losing its balance and fall. Plan to avoid it, but when it happens, face it squarely, honestly, and proportionately.  Don't beat yourself over it. Try to do better. Try to learn from it. Then move on to re-spin the next plate.