• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer

Receive The Miscellany in your mailbox

Learning Now: Apples • Pumpkins • Continents

Sallie Borrink

  • Blog
    • Recent Comments
    • Tags
  • About
    • Meet Sallie
    • Subscribe
    • My Doctrinal Beliefs
    • The Reference Library
    • My Telegram Page
    • Make a Donation
  • Homeschooling
    • Learn About Relaxed Homeschooling
    • Homeschool Planning
    • Back-to-Homeschool
    • Picture Book Activities
    • Unit Studies
    • Printable Poetry
    • Creative & Visual-Spatial Learners
  • Free Printables
    • All Free Homeschool Printables
    • Free Christian Printables
    • Free Homemaking Printables
    • Free Map Printables
    • Free Printable Word Searches for Kids
    • Free Counting Puzzle Printables
    • Free Printable Memory Games
  • Family Culture
  • Theology
  • Gifted & 2e
  • The Shop
    • Browse The Shop
    • Your Cart
    • Your Account Details
      • View Your Orders
      • Go To Your Downloads
      • My Account
    • Lost Password Help
    • Digital Products Terms of Use
You are here: Home / Christian Family Culture / Margin / Finding Margin When You Are Overwhelmed

Archives

Finding Margin When You Are Overwhelmed

Monday, September 13, 2021 (Updated: Saturday, July 25, 2026)

Post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure statement.

I’m a big believer in keeping a healthy amount of margin in life. I’ve written many posts about margin over the years and highly recommend two books related to it in my list of My Favorite Simple Living Books.

But sometimes no matter how hard I try, I find myself with shrinking levels of the margin that keeps me healthy and sane. There is nothing I can do about it other than pivot, adapt, and move forward as best I can. I briefly contemplated putting my head down on the desk and crying, but that has never worked for me. I don’t generally find crying therapeutic or helpful. So I just acknowledge I feel like I could do it and move on.




So here is a little look behind the scenes in my life today.

This is a message and sticker I sent to a friend on Telegram this afternoon.

So that little bit tells you one of the ways I deal with overwhelm and a lack of margin.

I do one small thing that gets completed. Usually it has NOTHING to do with the things that are making me feel overwhelmed.

Today it was posting a short recipe post.

There is something about doing one thing that is tangible and complete that propels me forward.

It literally breaks me out of the feeling of being paralyzed by too much to do.




I don’t know why it works, but it does. I think it must be the feeling of taking back control of my life or something.

I don’t get the same push from simply starting in on one of the tasks that is before me. Trying to dive into one of the daunting tasks doesn’t have the same impact.

Nothing has changed in that I still have a stack of new high school homeschooling materials to sort through and prepare to start using this week that is literally two feet high.

I still have to complete a pile of forms for all three of us in order to change doctors from the hospital system we’ve used for years to a Christian Healthcare option. Caroline and I have not been able to see a doctor since before the covid situation due to the mask requirements. Now with the unconstitutional jab mandates, David and I realized we may never get to see our current doctors again since all three are part of the establishment system where we live. So we’re changing doctors to a Christian office with freedom – no mandates or requirements. I am so thankful for this option (even though it comes with a monthly premium). But paperwork times three people is not what I expected to be doing right now in September.

Pivot, adapt, and move forward. Buck up, make the hard choices, and keep going. I’ve been preaching the need to do this for a number of years. I’ve been practicing what I preach and sharing those choices with you for a few years now. (Some of those choices probably seem less weird or paranoid at this point, don’t they?)

I still don’t have satisfactory answers regarding the dangers of spike protein shedding around us. I’m trying to determine the best ways to counteract their impact on us when we are out and about, especially now that we are heading toward the indoors part of the year. As a family, we always took a step back from being around a lot of people during flu season. Now with all the unknowns about the current covid injections, it’s rather overwhelming to contemplate how things might play out this fall and winter. I want to protect our health, especially Caroline’s, and trying to find the truth is like a part-time job when the media and medical establishment are working overtime to make sure no one knows the truth. This weighs on me more than anything because there doesn’t seem to be a lot of room for error in dealing with this situation. So I pray and ask God to show us what to do.

So I’m working toward increasing my margin again. Writing this post is a small part of moving forward. I’ve missed writing here the past two weeks, but other things for my family and home come first. I think I caught up on responding to all the comments this afternoon. I continue to add significant amounts of information to the Telegram widget in the blog sidebar. I’ve had to let the forum mostly go the past few weeks as I prioritized other things, but there is a lot of great info on Telegram. You can see most of it right here even if you don’t have a Telegram account.

God bless you as you care for your home and loved ones. How are you doing right now? How do you reclaim some margin when life gets to be too much? If you have ideas and tips, please share them. You might have the answer someone else needs. ♥

In My Shop

  • "Doe Ye Next Thynge" by Mrs. George A. Paull
    “Doe Ye Next Thynge” by Mrs. George A. Paull
    $1.99
  • Creating a Cozy Life - Getting Started
    Creating a Cozy Life – Getting Started
    $2.00
  • 21 Days of Scripture for Simple Living
    21 Days of Scripture for Simple Living
    $3.00

Category: Margin

About Sallie Borrink

Sallie Schaaf Borrink is a Christian, wife, mother, homeschooler, homebody, and autodidact. She owns a home-based graphic design and web design business with her husband (DavidandSallie.com).

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Kris

    Tuesday, September 14, 2021 at 5:18 pm

    Sallie,

    Thank you for this post. We are with a Christian Healthcare option as well. We have found that a Direct Primary Care doctor has saved us a ton of money and we can email rather than going in and saved ourselves a ton of money. Might be worth checking into locally on a trusted search engine. There is an occasional Christian doctor who does Direct Primary Care which is based on a monthly fee for family with a much more patient focus.

    Yes, we are all having to pivot in this crazy world. Never in my lifetime did I think we would be here! God gives us the strength and ability to get through!

    Kris

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

Thank you for your comment. I read and appreciate each one even if I am unable to respond.

Sidebar

Sallie Schaaf Borrink

I’m Sallie — Christian, wife, mother, just-retired homeschooler, homebody, and autodidact. Our little family lives a quiet and cozy life of home education, self-employment, and pithy exchanges. I’ve been writing here for 20+ years about Truth, Goodness, and Beauty. And I like to laugh. A lot. Start here. ♥ 

Categories

Popular Today

  • Popular-Today-List-Avatar-SB-GIRL-80x80The Reference Library
  • Observing Patterns in My Life SIMPLEThe Number 9 and Observing Patterns in My Life
  • The Night Before Charlie Kirk Died SIMPLEThe Night Before Charlie Kirk Died
  • Open Bible on a wood tableThe Loss of Mature Believers in Christian Institutions
  • Why Older Women Choose a Smaller Life SIMPLENow I Understand Why Older Women Choose a Smaller Life
  • Stone cottage with sloping roof surrounded by trees with orange and fall leaves in front of a dirt pathAlready Living My Grandmacore Life
  • Blank map of the world for homeschoolingFree World Map Printable for Homeschoolers
  • Popular-Today-List-Avatar-SB-GIRL-80x80Most of These Arrogant Pastors Have Ended Up in Error or Serious Sin
  • Simple Living This Week - No. 90 SIMPLEOur Cozy Home No. 90
  • Come, Little Leaves by George Cooper Printable preview“Come, Little Leaves” by George Cooper | Printable Poem
  • How Soulless Bureaucrats Make Owning an Online Business a Nightmare SIMPLESoulless Bureaucrats Make Owning an Online Business a Nightmare
  • Free Printable Christmas Gift Tags PinFree Printable Christmas Gift Tags
  • Understanding Homeschool High School Requirements SIMPLEUnderstanding Homeschool High School Requirements
  • Matching Colors Preschool Activity SIMPLEMatching Colors Preschool Activity Using Paint Sample Cards & Clothespins
  • Popular-Today-List-Avatar-SB-GIRL-80x80Obama Is The One



What Can I Help You Find Today?

Home

About Sallie

Contact

Privacy Policy

Disclaimers & Disclosures

Subscribe

Make a Donation

Tags

My Telegram

My Printables Shop

My Account

Cart

Lost Password Help

Digital Products Terms of Use

Relaxed Homeschooling

Free Printables

Family Culture

Unit Studies

Copyright © 2005–2026 · Sallie Borrink · All Rights Reserved · Powered by Mai Theme

Scroll Up
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.