I kept hearing people talk about New Year's resolutions today. I've long since sworn off of those...basically, I'm not a fan of setting myself up for failure. That and I simply don't understand waiting for a particular day to come before making a significant change in one's life. I mean, gee, just start that day, right?
I've had some big changes in the past couple of years. Some imposed upon me due to medical issues, some out of pure, personal choice. So, at the risk of sounding like I know what I'm talking about, which I decidedly do not (really, I don't have a clue), I figured I'd just put out there my wacky little life in a nutshell, or rather, nutty shell.
I'll start with the things that have been imposed upon me because of my medical issues. (Feel free to skip this paragraph and move on the the cwazy section below.) There are two. One, my blood clot, and two, my anemia. I've been on meds for a year-and-a-half now to keep my blood thin enough to not knock the heck out of my clot and send it directly to my lung. It was a real bear to get my blood to the right level of thinness and I've had to severely restrict my diet to enable the meds to work. My inner five-year-old is very happy to have the excuse that "Eating this could kill me" in reference to salad, broccoli, spinach, and brussel sprouts. My outer 44 year old thinks it's a big drag. The other thing is that I have to take iron twice a day (on an empty stomach) for my anemia. Believe it or not, it's a total juggling act, and I've got alarms that remind me to take my meds three times a day...ding, ding, ding...serious old lady alert! My point with this is that when it's directly survival/health related, with immediate ramifications if you screw up you make life changes right now, no questions asked. Quitting smoking or drinking would be much easier if partaking caused the partaker to have their arm swell up like a big purple sausage by that evening.
Now, with my goofy self imposed ones, this is what gives me my cwazy status 'round the house. During the summer I decided that creating something to completion, every day, was something I wanted to / had to / needed to do to make my life more blissful. It was imperative at the time and I almost desperately craved doing it each day, I ached for the fulfillment it provided. It's changed over the months and now it's the icing on my cake, the soft quilt I get to snuggle in, it soothes my soul. And, yes, still utterly and completely adds bliss to my life.
But...I'm a tremendously busy wife/mom/teacher and my time is thinly spread across my many priorities. Picture chunky peanut butter (the good kind you have to keep in the refrigerator after opening) being spread across a piece of bread, the bread tearing a bit under the pressure, the lumps uneven. Yes, my life is messy and full of lumps, just like that. The thing is, I have A LOT of things I want to do, and I really do like them all. Enter the multi-tasking genius/weirdo I've become.
Every day when I get home from work I want to do the following before I pass out from exhaustion:
• hang out with my family
• do some household chores (this is more of a "have to" than a "want to")
• draw/paint
• blog
• check in on facebook
• make/eat dinner
• exercise at least an hour every day
• get to bed by 9 PM
My wacky, cwazy solution to these probably unrealistic expectations of myself is to vigorously march in place during pretty much all of it, as exercise is always the hardest thing to fit in, right? OK, I can't really draw/paint or get in bed when I'm marching, but I'm telling you, I am known to do every single other thing WHILE I march in place. "What are some things you can do while marching?" I'm so glad you asked!
Typing, cooking, eating (yup!), hanging laundry on the line (this one is a little embarrassing as I'm sure neighbors see me), dishes, folding laundry, helping with homework, reading, making tomorrow's lunch, etc.
Dave walks by me and says sweet nothings to me like:
"Tap, tap, tap, tap...."
"Are you there yet?"
"Where are you going, anyway?"
And, what's most awesome is when he spontaneously starts marching alongside me. "The family that marches together, starches together...." Yeah, I dunno...it's romantic, though, for sure.
So, I encourage you to get on my cwazy train, try something new, make it work, multi-task to your heart's delight no matter the opinions of others or how darn goofy you look.
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