"Daddy fixed the chair you broke," I told my four year old.
She laughed and said, "I only broke one leg off."
I stopped what I was doing and looked up, unbelieving. "But you can't sit in a chair with only 3 legs. It will tip over! You need all 4 legs or it doesn't work!"
To her, almost was good enough. She couldn't see that the chair was useless unless 100% of the legs were functional.
Isn't life like that? As a wife and a mom and a business owner and a Girl Scout troop leader, I try to do it all. How many of us are the chauffeur, the baker, the housekeeper, the nurse, the secretary, the laundress, the seamstress, the accountant, the investor, and so many other roles? While we try to stay fit and healthy, get enough sleep, and help all the kids with homework?
Yet we can't do it all, so mental stamina, energy level, or physical health go by the wayside while we shoulder the rest. If you don't have all the legs to stand on, like the chair, you'll fall over.
I encourage you to prioritize in such a way that you're operating with all 4 chair legs. If that means tending your spiritual needs today, schedule time out to do that. If that means taking a nap because you were up til 1 am working to provide for your family or sewing patches on a Girl Scout vest, take the nap.
Before you cross one more thing of your to-do list, add something. Add a task that will give you back the fourth leg of your chair, so it can take the weight.
Here's the other part of the metaphor: even 4 legs can only take so much weight. You can't do it all. No one can.
Decide what the 3 most important things are for today. Make peace with the idea that if the rest don't get done, it's okay. You did the 3 most important.