Changing the World, One Monday at a Time (Pt. 2)
So last week, in case you missed it, I talked about busy-ness and how busy-ness was taking its toll on my family and my sanity. This week, I worked on that. Yes, I still found myself busier than I want to be, but I did take the step of recognizing that I needed to cut back on one commitment (because I was adding a new one) and my plate was one pea size catastrophe from staining the white lace tablecloth that covers the scratches on the table of my life. (I’ll let you figure that out… I’m way too busy right now.)
Today, I’m not going to talk about busy. Busy will always be(e)… punny, right? It is a fact of our life. But it’s how we handle the busyness that effects everyone around us.
So today, I want to talk about perspective.
In my humble opinion, we could all use perspective from time to time. Because life doesn’t get easier as we get older. I know this because kidlet #1 informed me in one of our battle of wills this week that he couldn’t wait to get older because he could do whatever he wanted. My reply: I can’t wait until I can do whatever I want, either. (Confusion on a nine year olds face can be a beautiful thing if it creates a pause in the bedtime drama.)
We don’t get to do what we want when we get older. Sure, there are some perks for growing older. We can drive a car, buy wine by the bottle, case or box, pay taxes and bills, worry about retirement, how much you need to be saving for the kidlets to go to college, how to be in two places at one time. Wow… where’s my happiness buzz?
What was I talking about? Right… perspective.
It’s so easy to get lost in the mundane to-do list of life. I mean, who has time to step back and look at the fact that yes, the wallpaper is peeling in the kitchen… but at least you don’t have to cook on the floor of a wooden hut.
I needed perspective this weekend when, for the first time I can remember, I admitted that I may have finally come nose to nose with my tipping point. That place where, if I add anything else to my daily must-do, the day is going to end with me in a white suit, “hugging” myself in a padded room. And so I touched base with a friend who has a knack of giving me the perspective that I need, even if I don’t want it.
CONFESSION TIME: There are a lot of times when I think I want perspective but what I really want is someone to join me in the mud puddle and start flinging mud pies at everyone within range.
What my wise friend pointed out is that everything I have been doing for the last two years has been teaching me how to compartmentalize my responsibilities and obligations and how she’s been impressed with that change in me.
Perspective.
When you are in the middle of everything in your life, it’s really easy not to see the evolution that is happening in and around you. But when you get a look at yourself through someone else’s eyes, the picture changes. You see it differently. I think they call that … perspective.
And I realized she was right. Sure, sometimes it’s been with me kicking and screaming, but I have learned the art of scheduling and managing time in a way that I have not had in the past. I’ve also learned that a plan is the best alternative to freaking out. So I sat down last night, with my new found perspective, made a list of my new obligations, factored them in with my outstanding obligations and realized that there will still be enough time to sleep and manage my house and hang with my hubby and have movie nights with the kidlets. Some weeks are going to feel longer than others. And that I will not be watching Big Brother again this summer. But there are far worse things in the world.
And, when things get rough, because that’s life, I will do what I can to step back and remind myself that peeling wallpaper and all, my life, is actually blessed by the truck load!
Until next Monday, when your blood starts to boil or you feel overwhelmed, try to step back and get perspective. This ability really can change the way we look at ourselves in the world and by association, change the world.
