Lately I've been doing a lot of thinking about how busy my life has become. I keep thinking, "Oh, after this I'll have some free time," or "Oh, once this passes I can do x, y, z."
You know what? I don't think that time is ever going to come. That really is just dawning on me in a real way.
Which means I'm going to have to learn to adapt and learn that I'm not going to be able to do everything, and that I can't judge my relative success or failure in life by the number of Yeses and Nos that I have to give people when they ask me for something--no matter how badly I want to do something.
It also means I have to prioritize. I don't like the word prioritize. it seems to suggest that some things can be truly counted as more important than others. I'm always afraid I'm going to hurt someone's feelings or let someone down. And saying "Oh, this doesn't fit on the priority list" seems like the coldest thing ever, even if I'm just saying it to myself.
And that means I have to make sure to schedule in time to spend with my husband that's not just the daily living-together stuff that any cohabitators would have. Same goes for my dog, my family, and ... myself.
It means not overcommitting so that I feel consistently overwhelmed on a weekly basis. And consistently frustrated and feeling like I failed when the to-do list spills over from week to week, month to month.
We all need time to be creative and daydream or blow off steam. It makes us more productive and happy in the long run. I wonder how long it will take me to truly take this advice for myself, no matter how much I believe it for other people.
5 comments:
I make daydreaming a priority.
I think it's hard to schedule downtime. If you think "ok I plan to stay in with my man and watch movies on friday," and then someone is like "I'm having a party, come!" and you say you're busy, and they ask what you're doing, it's hard to justify to them that staying in for a quiet night really IS plans. So you give in and go. And voila, you're busy busy busy again.
But really, scheduling downtown counts as valid plans. I think...
I vote the earth should spin at a slower rate so we can enjoy a few more hours in the day. That or we simply work less and have Fridays off. Sadly, I think it would be easier making the earth slow down than convincing my bosses to switch to 4 day work weeks.
I agree with William - four day work weeks! Or you could move to a small town in rural Wisconsin where you only have your parents to hang out with. Not that I don't love my parents.
Oh it is so hard to prioritize! To me it always means "giving up on the bottom of the list."
With the scheduled downtime, what I'd do is be like, "Oh, we're busy---we're seeing a movie." So it sounds like you're going out. Better yet, the more mysterious "We have a date!" with waggled eyebrows.
Post a Comment