Over the past two months, since my last entry, I have had many enthralling ideas for posts that have gone by the wayside in either a flurry of holiday activity or as a consequence of post-holiday exhaustion. Add to this, the November election of my husband as Mayor of our town and perhaps you can understand why I've been distracted.
New Year's traditionally being the time for new starts, I am determined to rededicate myself to having a purpose outside of facilitating the needs of our household and responding to stimuli. This is generally how I have been living my life--responding to stimuli. Not to say that I've been wasting time; I have not. People need to be fed--I feed them. Laundry piles up--I wash it. Dogs need exercise--I run them. The car needs fixed--I take it in. The boy needs help with homework--I make flash cards. All good stuff. But it is not a planned existence, nor is it a purposeful one. As a result, although it is not hell on earth, it is not particularly fulfilling.
I've had a few fulfilling moments here and there in the recent past. One came as I recovered a couple of throw pillows I happen to love. I created toile casings, trimmed them with piping and sat down to rediscover the art of hand sewing. The next occurred when I wrote the Mayor's acceptance speech. It was succinct, it was powerful and it was a lot of fun picking out just the right words. I've also found a sense of purpose volunteering my time on a crisis hotline. The theme I'm trying to point out here is that I need to focus on making time for creative pursuits that make life more interesting to me than it is when I simply do the things that must be done.
Sometimes I'm slow. This is probably not a huge revelation for some readers. In fact, some of you are probably reading this saying, well, duh (which, just for the record, I hate). But for others who are caught up in the business of running a family, my experiences here may hold a clue to why they are not particularly happy. I need something for myself that is outside the realm of the common good. My brain needs little excursions to places that delight it, renew it and give it something to fall back on when it is being bored to tears by minutia. Therefore, I am resolved to make a calendar (already done for January) that includes brain care, exercise and fun. Those things that, like this blog, go by the wayside when we allow the day-to-day to take over everything.
4 comments:
Such an inspiring post!
Love it!! Day to day is sooooooo mundane....heres to changes, adventures, fun & excitement!!!
I agree with you wholeheartedly. I need to examine my day-to-day and come up with some activities that are a little more intriguing. It's nice to look back on one's day and have a feeling of accomplishment. Good luck with your writing and everything else you choose to do!
It's commendable that despite all the distractions, you have, in fact, done the writing. So many people (myself included) think, "I should just sit down and write." But we never do. The quality of your posts show the care you are putting into them as well--you are not writing just for the sake of writing, what you say matters. Keep it up!
Post a Comment