Life Inventory

When is the last time you sat down and really took stock of where you are at in your life? What is working well right now? What isn't working so well? Is there anything that you would like to change? Add? Get rid of? It is so easy to let time slide by and neglect areas of our life that our suffering and/or not even notice when something is going exceptionally well. As a mother, it is far too easy to forget about nurturing yourself as you tend to your children 24/7. Want to know a secret? If you aren't nurturing yourself, chances are you aren't parenting to your fullest potential, either. I recently started doing regular life inventories and have found it to be extremely rewarding. No matter how much time I let pass between reevaluating these 8 core areas of my life, I am always surprised to see what has changed each time I sit down and take a closer look at my life. Starting from the moment you find out you are pregnant, your life takes a huge shift as you approach motherhood. Priorities shift, relationships change, and schedules get turned upside down. Each season of motherhood brings about many changes in your life, which is why it is important to regularly sit down and do a self-examination. Your life and your priorities and goals as a mother of a 2mo may look drastically different than your life with a 3yo, or with 2+ kids. My challenge to you, regardless of what season you may be in right now is to set aside some time and do a life inventory. Repeat this as often as you feel is helpful for you (every month, quarterly, biannualy, yearly, etc.).

So, how do you do it? First, set aside a guaranteed block of time where you can be alone. This shouldn't be a stressful, agonizing event; make a cup of tea, light a candle, put on some comfortable clothes and enjoy this time of self-reflection. The following worksheets are provided to you as a guide - you can change them up as you see fit. For my life-inventory map, I chose eight key areas to focus on: family, health, romance, friendship, work, wealth, fun/pleasure, & spiritual. Take some time with each area and answer a few questions for yourself: where are you at right now? what is working? what is not working? what would you like to add? what would you like to get rid of? Write these answers down on the sheet provided below (or whatever you choose to use). *Downloadable copies are available at the bottom of the post

Once the above sheet is filled out, pick out key words/phrases from each category and transfer those to the diagram below. This wheel diagram is a good one to hang up somewhere where you will see it daily and acts as a reminder of how you would like your life to look in each of these areas.

I hope that you enjoy this time of self-reflection as much as I have and that you find it helpful in the ever-changing and often chaotic world of motherhood!

To download copies of the worksheets shown above, click here