Anyone that knows me well knows that I get a little “Deep
Thoughts” around my birthday. Maybe it
has something to do with the season; my birthday happens to land on or around the
first day of spring, and the feeling of newness, potential, re-birth is in the
air. Literally. And no I don't just mean the pollen. A good friend called it your personal New Year- the start of
your own personal calendar of events. I
love that. For me, taking time to reflect on the past 12 months, taking an
inventory of what I have accomplished, where I am and most importantly, where I
want to go, is important to me. I often
say that my most valuable asset is my time- not just as a single mother, but as
someone who wants to be that person who gets the most out of every minute. As much as it might pain me to say it, in
work terms, I want to have the most “value-add” to my time.
But somewhere in my quest to get the most out of every minute, I forgot to factor in the most important component- to actually enjoy the moment.
In my constant rush to get it all done, show how much I have accomplished, “prove my worth”, I managed to not really provide myself. I failed to savor the moment that I was in. OK, so perhaps not every moment is meant to be savored- certainly not, say, paying bills or fertilizing the lawn, but the point is that I was trying to get so much done that I would often multi-task and therefore never place my full focus on accomplishing what was in front of me. I rarely was “all in” with whatever I was doing. I realized what a disservice I was doing to myself and those in my life… such as answering emails while watching a show with the girls- neither task was I truly present for.
Therefore, my New Year’s Resolution is to do less.
Yes, to do LESS.
Seriously, do you know how much I try to do in a day? It is no wonder that the only time I really- I mean really- ever sit down and don’t think of anything is when I get a pedicure (seriously, not nearly enough these days) and when I take a flight. And as I haven’t traveled in about 5 weeks that a lot of not sitting. If anyone realized how my mind churns I think it might be able to power a small city- ok, perhaps just a municipality, but still. Power. From my mental multi-tasking. No wonder I seem so scatter-brained, because that is exactly what I am.
I realized that I needed an excuse to do less. To commit to stopping everything else and focus on the here and now. To not fold laundry while I listen to a friend’s phone conversation. To have someone come over and with the sole purpose of talking and watching Sons of Anarchy in order to do nothing else.
Trying to not get three things done at once is hard- this doing nothing takes some work.
And yet I know it’s good for me. Necessary. Important. Makes me better. Most importantly, makes me happy. Lets me exhale. And maybe the value is that I can show my girls that I don’t have to be accomplishing something every minute of the day in order to have value. That being together, sharing who I am, in the moment, is value enough.
Maybe, just as important, is to value that lesson myself.
But somewhere in my quest to get the most out of every minute, I forgot to factor in the most important component- to actually enjoy the moment.
In my constant rush to get it all done, show how much I have accomplished, “prove my worth”, I managed to not really provide myself. I failed to savor the moment that I was in. OK, so perhaps not every moment is meant to be savored- certainly not, say, paying bills or fertilizing the lawn, but the point is that I was trying to get so much done that I would often multi-task and therefore never place my full focus on accomplishing what was in front of me. I rarely was “all in” with whatever I was doing. I realized what a disservice I was doing to myself and those in my life… such as answering emails while watching a show with the girls- neither task was I truly present for.
Therefore, my New Year’s Resolution is to do less.
Yes, to do LESS.
Seriously, do you know how much I try to do in a day? It is no wonder that the only time I really- I mean really- ever sit down and don’t think of anything is when I get a pedicure (seriously, not nearly enough these days) and when I take a flight. And as I haven’t traveled in about 5 weeks that a lot of not sitting. If anyone realized how my mind churns I think it might be able to power a small city- ok, perhaps just a municipality, but still. Power. From my mental multi-tasking. No wonder I seem so scatter-brained, because that is exactly what I am.
I realized that I needed an excuse to do less. To commit to stopping everything else and focus on the here and now. To not fold laundry while I listen to a friend’s phone conversation. To have someone come over and with the sole purpose of talking and watching Sons of Anarchy in order to do nothing else.
Trying to not get three things done at once is hard- this doing nothing takes some work.
And yet I know it’s good for me. Necessary. Important. Makes me better. Most importantly, makes me happy. Lets me exhale. And maybe the value is that I can show my girls that I don’t have to be accomplishing something every minute of the day in order to have value. That being together, sharing who I am, in the moment, is value enough.
Maybe, just as important, is to value that lesson myself.
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