After a really lousy few days, there’s nothing like a different sort of reality check. For example, everything that could have gone wrong that didn’t. On a Monday!
For example:
- My computer didn’t crash.
- My car started despite the cold.
- I got the kid to school on time.
- His painting project is going well.
- I sent my documents that were due.
- My coffee was good, and I didn’t spill it.
- Cup number two will be brewing shortly.
Hey, as Monday mornings go – that’s not so bad!
I’m pondering the work day ahead – my writer work day and my parenting work day. And, the rest of the week will be tough as well. But this isn’t new territory, only tiring territory that has passed beyond my capacity. Or so it seems. But then the computer doesn’t crash, the car starts just fine, the kid is on time, documents manage to get sent, and coffee retains its excellence. Especially in my favorite mug.
If I can still find the bright spots, I know we’ll be fine. I’m soft-selling a bit; it’s a rough period, and it’s the accumulation of little things in life that often crush us. Yet little things also wield the power to uplift us – don’t you think?
Crazy schedules, difficult priorities
Yesterday, one of you lovelies recommended I consider taking the weekends off from this daily writing. It’s a worthy suggestion, and one I’ve considered. I simply haven’t been able to stop myself from writing, though I’m writing faster and sloppier. It doesn’t feel good. And yet, this writing – here – is one of the few things over which I have control in my daily life.
To be honest, I need this discipline and I rarely spend more than an hour at it any longer. Frequently, I’m pushing “publish” without an edit, which is not my style – but the way it is. While I’ve sacrificed my commitment to quality in these past weeks, hanging on to the routine of this morning writing feels important. For now. So I keep going with it, for now.
And of course, there’s the issue of priorities. I talk to my son frequently about time management and prioritizing, about the importance of recognizing what you love to do and what you have to do, and how that means making difficult choices. Am I an example of do as I say, don’t do as I do?
As for juggling – don’t we all have horrendous periods of doing so? At times, they seem endless. But then there is the bright morning in the jostling cold, the kid that smiles and is (for a change) on time. There is “you” – you who read, you who email, you who offer help and encouragement, and that is huge.
You are part of what keeps me going, along with insistence on these bright spots when I have the clarity to find them. And I hope, no matter what life dishes out, that’s most of the time.
I love gratitude lists. It all starts with something small. I was feeling Monday stress, compounded by the fact that my car is making a very weird noise when I turn on the heat. So I called the mechanic and he said it might be a small animal that has gotten stuck in the fan. Well, that both horrified me and made me laugh, and you know what? I felt some of the stress leave my body and my mood perk up. So that excellent coffee? Have another one for me.
Thank goodness for a good Monday. Mine is bright, too, mostly because I decided to stay home until 10 a.m.
This fall has knocked me nearly senseless, and I’ve had a harder time than ever making myself do what I have to before I do what I want to. When the new year rolls around in a few weeks, I don’t know that I’ll ever have had a better time to make some resolutions and stick to them.
Hope you enjoyed that second cup of coffee this morning! Hang in there.
Glad you had a good Monday. I am impressed with your blog writing schedule as well as the discipline you apply to other facets of your life. I can understand that you may want to cut back on your weekend posts, but I also can relate to the fact that you need the discipline of doing them everyday to continue. Its almost if the discipline in the blogging space fuels discipline in other areas.
Exactly, Rudri. The discipline in this one area which I can control helps me maintain discipline in the other areas that are more of a struggle.