Confession of an overloaded mom

Today was my first day back at my normal routine since Thursday of last week.  I left on Thursday afternoon to go with my church to Hilton Head for a Women's Retreat.  The retreat was great.  I learned a lot about Jesus and the Holy Spirit, I guess you can say the retreat was also refreshing! 

Ok back to my "confession".  During the retreat we had the oppurtunity to attend a "break-out" session.  I decided to do one that was called "Presence & Priority".   It was taught by our Womens leader, Cassie.  She is great!!   This was tid bit that was given about the session before hand...

-Are you tired of being tired and living a life that seems to have no breathing room?
 -How do we practically live into knowing God's presence as a daily reality of life in a culture that is fast paced and overloaded with noise and activity?
-Do my calendar and commitments reflect a life that is committed to loving God and people as a top priority?

I thought "Man, this is so what I need right now".  I have been so overloaded and busy with weddings and kids things that I even have to basically schedule in a shower every day.  Thats nuts.  Its like I would wake up every morning and write down my "to-do list" and hope that I would actually get through it and if I did then I would actually be proud of myself.  So anyway, here is a little of what she said.

She started out with the passage of Mark 1: 29-39 when Jesus healed many people.  The passage also talked about how Jesus went in the early morning and got with God.  He took the time to get with his Father and talk with him.  This was touching for me because I find it really hard to find time to study the bible and get time alone.  She then went on to talk about "Overload vs. Margin".  

Overload - do you ever feel overloaded?  I do all the time.  I feel like I should have everything done by 5pm everyday or Im doomed.  (I know, im extreme sometimes)  But one thing she said was "sometimes you can get so overloaded that, that can become your norm".  

Ding!! It clicked, thats exactly how I have been feeling.  So now that I was all into the talk, I wanted to get to the margin part.  How can I fix this overload in my life and take back my freeness?

Margin - "Don't let the calendar be your boss, be the boss of your calendar"!  I think that was the best thing she could have said to me.  
-Know thy self - Know your personal red flags of being overloaded, so you know when to step back and relieve yourself of duties. 
- ask yourself "What is my motivation for this activity?"  I love this question.  I can ask myself this all the time and it will make me think twice about what im about to do.  Do I have enough emotional energy to get through this activity?  Next time the school sends home a "Can you do this sheet" I'll be asking myself these two questions. 

So to wrap things up, I'm going to be rearranging my schedule and keeping this at the front of my mind until I learn how to keep myself in my margin.  No more overload!!     

Do you get overloaded and if so, how do you deal with it?  Any tips or suggestions?