Thursday, March 22, 2012

Choosing Sunshine

Day 22 of 31 at TWT!
Today was one of those days when it felt, for just a bit, like my house was trying to crush me.  Really, can someone please get me some more hours in the day?  (Please?  My birthday's coming up in May!)  Ironically, I tend to feel stress the most on days like this, when I have "absolutely nothing to do".

The problem with days where I "nothing to do" is that I'm supposed to use them to catch up on all the things I don't do on the busy days.  After all, that's what I tell myself on the busy days: "I'll get to it over break" or "That'll be my project for the summer".  I walk past the pile of laundry that's trying to eat the bedroom, ignore the holiday decorations still out from I'm-ashamed-to-admit-which-holiday, navigate expertly through the obstacle course of school-related items that covers the extra bedroom, ignore the endless box of photos that haven't been labeled or put in albums for years, and collapse on the couch instead of going to the gym. 

These promises I make to myself would be fine, if I kept them.  But when breaks (and "free" weekends) come, they have this incredibly annoying habit of filling up rather quickly.  I go shopping with my mom, I read, I write, I go outside, we travel, I relax and breathe... All of a sudden, it's almost time to go back to school and I've only accomplished about one and two halves of the things I was supposed to do!

And so I freak out.  I do a load of laundry.  I clean the kitchen.  I dive into the holiday decorations and get about half of them back into the boxes.  I finish the vacation plans. (The only task for this break that I started on the first day!)  I feel productive until I look around and see everything I still didn't do:

The laundry is still on the verge of eating the bedroom, there are holiday decorations that remain, the school items are now threatening to spill out of the extra room into the rest of the house, and the photos haven't been touched.  In fact, the photos that are still on the computer are still waiting to be printed so they can collect dust in the already-overflowing box.  And the layer of fat on my stomach persists, because, guess what? I certainly did not go the gym every day.  Or even nearly every day.  Or any day.  (Maybe I will go tomorrow?)

I freak out more.  Why am I still drowning in things to do?

But the sun is shining out on the patio again.  A little squirrel under the bird feeder invites me outside, as if he's saying "This weather isn't going to last!"  I need to blog.  I need to read other slices.  I need to take a deep breath of flowery air and relax.

I decide that those things are important too.  And I'm glad I didn't spend my whole break getting things done.  (This summer, I'll get all caught up...)  Then it wouldn't have been a break.  And I definitely needed a break: a real sun-shiny, family-filled, walks-to-the-park, lounging-on-the-patio break.

So I'm choosing the sun and the squirrel and the flowery air.

9 comments:

  1. Good for you! My break is week after next. I am not "going" anywhere. I have promised myself I will accomplish one task per day as long as it doesn't take more than one hour. I want a Break just like yours.

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    1. Ooh I love the "one task for one hour" idea! I will try that next break for sure! :-)

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  2. So, you snuck in my house while I was at work????? You aren't alone in the stress you feel when you "don't have anything to do". I chose Chloe and the sun on my deck during break. And I don't feel a bit guilty! Well....maybe a little!

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    1. Haha, thanks Deb, it's nice to know that mine isn't the only house that looks like this... :-)

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  3. The sun won't always be shining, so take advantage of it when you can. Your laundry eating the floor creates a funny image, made me laugh. Enjoy your last day tomorrow, throw a load in the washer then do something fun. Enjoy!

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  4. It sounds like you did exactly what you should have done on your break! Enjoy your last few days of break.

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  5. GOOD FOR YOU! I did the exact same thing. Felt guilty for a moment, but shrugged it off and enjoyed doing nothing!

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  6. First of all, go Ohio State! I hope, among all the sun and the squirrels and the flowery air, that you've been watching basketball, too! I think you could box the photographs & put them into the closet. Then cross that off the list! Sometimes it seems that our lists are just too long. Clearly from the comments above, we're all in the same boat. Take the sunshine, the vitamin D is so, so good for you!

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    1. Yes, Go Bucks! Unfortunately the 2nd half of last night's game was a little past our bedtimes here in the EST time zone... but we watched the beginning! It's fun to think of you thinking of our team all the way across the country! :-)

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