13. When Busyness Catches Up: Choosing What Matters Most

Life has a way of bunching up, even in retirement. This episode is about balancing multiple commitments and prioritizing what truly matters. As she looks at life from a different perspective, Vona emphasizes the role of God's plan for work and rest and how faith and flexibility can guide us in making the right choices. 

Discover practical tips that you can easily implement in your daily life, on maintaining harmony with our priorities, being present for loved ones, and embracing God's purpose, all while finding peace and fulfillment. 

Discover how the daily practice of your faith and the courage to make bold choices can lead to a retirement that is not just fulfilling but truly enriching. 

Subscribe now to receive more valuable insights and tips that can help you navigate your retirement journey with courage and faith! 

00:00 Introduction: Life's Unpredictable Agenda 

00:20 Embracing Retirement with Purpose 

00:56 Balancing Multiple Roles and Commitments 

02:46 The Importance of Flexibility and Prioritization 

04:04 God's Role in Our Decision-Making 

05:05 Cherishing Family Moments 

05:24 Finding Grace in Busy Times 

06:10 Practical Tips for Prioritizing 

07:04 Embracing Flexibility and God's Timing 

07:53 The Importance of Being Present 

08:33 Living Out Your Faith 

09:01 Conclusion and Upcoming Topics

Check out the article "The Art of Masterful Living" on my LinkedIn profile or on my Live Your More Blog. 

If you prefer to listen to the audio version of Courageous Retirement, find us on your favorite platform or on the show's website.

Learn more about Vona at https://vonajohnson.com.

I'd love to hear from you! Send me a text message!

Thank you for stopping by today! Remember to Engage Your Faith and Live Your More as you reap the benefits of Courageous Retirement!

To watch the video, check out my YouTube Channel!

Learn more about the show, author Vona Johnson, and more at CourageousRetirement.com!

Schedule a free 15 minute Your Path to More call with Vona.

Episode Transcript

Vona Johnson (00:00):
No matter how carefully we plan, sometimes our

(00:02):
life has its own agenda.
What do we do when ourcommitments collide and our
balance tips.
It's not about doing it all.
It's about doing what mattersmost.
Let's talk about how toprioritize when everything feels
important and how God's plan forwork and rest, play into how we
make our decisions.

Speaker (00:20):
Do you fear what lies beyond retirement?
What if it's a gateway to a lifefilled with purpose, meaning,
and adventure rather than anend?
Discover peace and fulfillmentas you boldly enter this new
chapter in CourageousRetirement, a Christian podcast.
I'm your host, author and coach,Vona Johnson.
Let's get started.

Vona Johnson (00:39):
You know, I love retirement.
I love everything about it.
I've just been able to build alife that is exactly what I want
it to be.
And I've talked to other peoplewho have retired and they say
the same thing.
Yeah.
I'm busy.
I'm busier than I've ever been,but I'm doing things that I want
to do.
I don't know about you, butthere are times when everything

(01:00):
bunches up at the same time.
And.
It's just, I mean, that's goingto happen.
And for me, for example, I am awife.
I'm a mother, I'm a grandmother.
Those, those are priorities forme.
I have a podcast.
I do video podcast.
I love to write, I've written acouple of books, but I'm also in

(01:20):
Toastmasters to help me speakbetter.
I'm in a business coachinggroup.
That's faith-based and that justreally fills me up and keeps me
on track.
But then I'm also a citycommissioner and I have meetings
that come together with thosecity commission duties,
throughout the week through someare quarterly some are every
week.
And then I also do Bible studiesand I have my devotions every

(01:42):
day and I want to be healthy andI want to eat right.
And you get the point.
Oh, and I forgot, I also want tospend time with my friends and
there are times when, even withmy best laid plans.
All of my commitments cometogether and they bunch up and,
and it's, it's hard to decidewhat to do first.
You know, God created both workand rest.

(02:03):
And when we don't consciouslythink about when we're working
and when we're resting and, andI've written an article before
about the master of the art ofliving and how when we are a
master of the art of livingpeople can't even really tell
when we're working and whenwe're playing, because our work
becomes our play.

(02:24):
And I really feel that that'simportant in retirement.
If we get to the point where wefocus too much on work, or we
focus too much on rest, thenthat work, or that rest really
becomes an idol for us.
And it kind of pushes out Godfrom our lives and when that
happens, it becomes more of anissue of control and less about

(02:44):
just surrendering to God.
One of the keys that we need toremember is that we need to stay
flexible.
And I have said a million times.
I'm not anything if I'm notflexible, but again, there are
times when our flexibility isn'tenough.
When God calls or in thissituation, when I have made
commitments to watch mygrandkids, because their parents

(03:06):
are busy with their lives.
I have to make decisions and,and today is one of those days.
I'm in the middle of doing, Ineeded to get this podcast out
and I, I made a commitment to dothis every two weeks and I
didn't want to just not makethat happen.
But I also have a commitment towatch kids.
So what do I do?

(03:26):
I make a shorter episode andmaybe don't make it as perfect,
but I get both done.
And that was important to me.
When life gets bunched up foryou, I just really encourage you
to stop and think about what'sreally important.
And for me, what's gonna alwaystrump is those grandkids.
So it's really important to mewhen I am thinking about the

(03:49):
decisions I'm going to make andwhat I'm going to do and what I,
what every time we say yes tosomething we're saying no to
something else.
Right.
And it's, I mean, we have toprioritize that on our own and I
encourage to you to considerwhen you're doing that too.
Just spend some quiet time withGod and ask him where the
priority should be.
Oftentimes he will make iteasier for you so that you can

(04:12):
do both.
Or he was, he was sometimes I'llhave appointments that just get
canceled randomly.
So I have more time to do thethings that I prioritize, but
when we try to control it allourselves, that's when we really
get out of balance and anytimewe get to that point and we make
a decision.
We need to be careful not tofeel like a failure because we

(04:33):
haven't gone the other route ordone the other thing.
We have to sometimes just focuson God's bigger purpose.
And for me, as important as thispodcast is, and as important as
it is to remind Christians thatwe need to have courage to step
into the things that God hascalled us to.
My grandkids are the mostimportant thing right now.

(04:55):
They are at an impressionableage and they need to know.
That they are a priority andthat they are loved and they
also need to have discipline andthey need.
All the things that I can bringto them.
Is is really important.
My grandmother was one of themost important people in my
lives, and I still carry withme.
Moments, just simple things thathappened.

(05:18):
That just I treasure.
And I want to be that for mygrandchildren.
As well.
We need to have grace in ourbusy-ness.
We need to know that when thingsdo get out of hand and we get
stressed out, or we react in anegative way that we have grace
for that.
And we can lean into God.
And we can trust him to help usferret out our schedule and find

(05:42):
the things that are mostimportant.
He, he works through our livesand the interruptions, the
things that pull us away fromsome of the things that we
really enjoy, like this podcastor working on.
Uh, newsletter or whatever.
Um, When I get to those things,I know that they will be done in
God's perfect timing.

(06:03):
And I need to not resent the,what feel like sometimes the
disruptions from this life thatI've created.
So some practical tips of what Iencourage you to do when your
life gets bunched up andbusy-ness that takes over is to
really be focused on what arethe things that are most
important to you?
What are the non-negotiables forme?

(06:25):
That's my faith.
That's spending time with Godevery day and spending time in
quiet time.
Listening to what he has to say,praying throughout the day.
Spending time with my family andjust feeling the joy of having
them around me and being a partof their everyday lives is so
important.
That's why I make sure that I'mhome when my husband's home is

(06:47):
most often as I can.
That's when I, why I make surewhen the kids call and say they
need help with the grandkids.
I'm there.
If I can possibly be there.
But I also make sure that I setaside time to rest in God's
presence.
That is.
Utmost important to me.
And I also have to be okay withletting go of the things that

(07:08):
aren't vitally important.
If I've learned nothing elseover the last several years and
this process of helping peoplelive their MORE I've learned
that that flexibility and thatletting go is so vitally
important.
God's timing is perfect.
And we can rest in knowing thatwe're enough, right where we are
and that the things that theworld say are important.

(07:29):
Aren't always as important.
Be open to when God nudges youto do something that may not be
on your agenda for the day tojust know that that might be
where he needs you most in thatday.
And sometimes it's things thatthere's no way you can plan for,
for example, this week.
It's a busy week.
It things are bunched up.
And then unexpectedly, I learnedthat a very dear friend passed

(07:52):
away.
It was heartbreaking for me toget that news and it just
reiterated for me why all ofthis is so important, why it's
important that my grandkids arefirst because I don't know that
I'm going to be here tomorrow.
I'm not promised tomorrow.
I'm not promised that they willbe here tomorrow.
And so that's why would I do isso important and that's why you

(08:13):
as.
That maybe you're not agrandparent, but that, that
older wiser person in the livesof the people that, you know,
that's why it's important thatwe share with them the things
that are, that do matter most.
And we exemplify for them in ourlives.
How we make important choicesbecause.
It's it's crucial that peoplesee us live out our faith every

(08:37):
day.
I just want to remind you thatchoosing the right thing, even
when it means saying no tosomething else, that might be
really good.
Is okay.
And it's important.
And that's part of this livingour more, this is that's part of
living in the peace andfulfillment and stepping into
God's purpose for our lives.

(08:57):
That's how we learned to trustGod and learn to trust in his
lead.
So this episode might be alittle shorter than usual.
It may not be as finessedalthough I don't really get into
that that much, but I justwanted to stop in and say.
Life does get busy and it's okaybecause God's got this.
So hang in there and lookforward to talking to you next

(09:18):
time.
When I share some things thatwere surprising to me about some
of the things I've done.
I talk about planting seeds.
God is showing fruit in placesthat I never would have
imagined.
And I'm just really excited toshare that with you.
Sometimes courageous retirementdoesn't look like what we think
it will look like.
Sometimes it's just picking thepriorities or the things that
matter most contrary to what theworld would tell us.

(09:41):
And that is why we're here.
So I look forward to seeing youback here next time.
If you haven't already and youenjoy the show, please subscribe
so that you won't miss anepisode.
I really appreciate you beinghere and I pray that you will
engage your faith and enjoy theimmense benefits of living
courageous retirement.