My Aunt has always said... well, she has a lot of good advice, but she often says that if something is a priority then you would make time for it. And if you say it's a priority but don't make time to do it, then what dose that really say about you. I'm paraphrasing of course. Her saying is much more to the point but you get the idea. As I look at what I am prioritizing at the moment, there isn't a lot of stuff that I want to do. It's mostly what has to be done.
I don't talk a lot about myself here, and I do that on purpose. The internet is an amazing and terrible thing. We know this, but I'm sure anyone reading this blog can glean some basics from in between the lines. I have decided to change and tell you a bit more about what is going on in my life.
I am a thirty year old woman. I don not have a career, but I have a few very small jobs. I live with my sister and together we take care of my Grandmother whose health has declined rapidly in the last year and a half. I pray that we will be heading toward recovery some time soon. The day-to-day is often a struggle for us all, more so in the last month and mostly from our own doing. In the wake of the Purge and day-to-day of caring for another person I have been trying to get some control of a life that has become focused on putting out fires, instead of actively planning for the future. I am trying to take control of the only thing I can, my surroundings. Organizing our home has become a goal that I can attain, but one I am mismanaging.
I realized something last night as my sister and I sat down to plan out what we were doing today and to brainstorm a schedule for my grandmother. We have been winging it for the last few weeks since she returned from the hospital. Deep in the middle of the Purge she spent a week in the hospital and then we had several days where family visited and took over some of her care. It was enough to get us through the yard sale but this minimal effort is not helping anyone. A schedule will help us as much as it will help her. Anyway, I realized that we were prioritizing the wrong things, or in fact not prioritizing anything at all. I was making plans and making lists and not really getting anywhere because I felt I had to get all of it done right now or as soon as possible. So as my sister and I added even more to-do items to the already long list, I realized that we needed to focus on one thing, or one area at a time. The obvious choice being the front yard and the growing pile of garbage that needed to be taken to the dump.
Our wonderful neighbors have been a true blessing since my grandfather died, and one often takes loads to the dump for us and offered to drop off his trailer again today. (You would be surprised how much garbage we make. Especially while cleaning things out. We donate and recycle and still have at least a truck load a month.) So getting the garbage bagged and ready to go was a major priority. But first was the container garden that my sister had started instead of our usual garden which we have yet to make produce since my grandfather passed. She had decided to plant things right in the middle of the driveway where we would need to move to load the stuff for the dump. (Melli enjoys gardening and I keep an eye on her so that she doesn't spend to much money on it.) Moving the pots to a graveled area meant opening room for us to move out the garbage from the house and garage. We emptied the many cans we have around the house, getting any boxes and collecting the items from the numerous house project that needed to go but where too large to fit in the garbage can and put them in the driveway to be loaded this afternoon. All of which took less than twenty minutes.
Our other main priority is the garage, which we worked on again today. It is looking really good. As my sister keeps saying, if we work only one hour a day it will get done. We spent more than an hour out there and I feel as if we can finally see daylight. As the day progressed and the major items were marked off my list, I added in this or that as I was doing it already. But making something my priority and realizing that I can't and don't need to do it all at once has taken a lot of stress off. I still have my list, which includes house chores, errands, personal projects and even a bit of my writing to dos, but I am okay with just doing a little at a time.
Heck I even spent time writing today, which is what I really want to do.
I hope to get back to writing about writing, or even review some books and tools to help writers, but right now I am happy to get back in the habit of posting at least twice a week. Yes, it's about whatever is on my mind, but it writing and I enjoy it. Now, to Prioritize my to-dos for tomorrow. So Goodnight!
To my fellow writers: WRITE ON!
No comments:
Post a Comment