Yesterday was pretty busy.
Ok, Saturdays usually are. It’s the day I can start to get caught up on all the stuff that I’d like to do, but which get slid over onto the back burner in favor of the demands of the Day-to-Day.
It could have been busier still because, for a while there, I was thinking that if I could get Everything done today, I’d have more time to myself Tomorrow (Sunday…today…time is confusing).
The thing is we, as humans, are rubbish at prediction, especially when it comes to how much extra Time that Future Us is likely to possess. The fact is, that Future Us has the same 24 hours that Present Us has. On top of that, Future Us is going to have the same amount of stuff on their plate – though it might not be the same stuff currently being juggled by Present Us.
The stuff changes but the amount, typically, stays the same. And there will always be more stuff.
That’s not saying that al stuff is bad. There’s some stuff that I’ve got on my plate today that I’m really looking forward to. A nice long walk for example. Editing audio for a podcast.
I think, and this applies to me for certain, that sometimes we don’t know when enough is enough. Sure, we know when we’ve done enough when our bodies just quit. That’s kind of hard to argue with. But to take an honest look at what we’ve accomplished during the day and say, “Yup. That’s a good piece of work. You’re done.” is a skill I know I need to develop.
And it’s hard work, objectively deciding to stop. We’ve been conditioned practically from birth to DO ALL THE THINGS. Idle hands being the Devil’s workshop and all that crap. Socially, we’re almost required to be busy every waking moment and beyond (I’ll sleep when I’m dead…that sound familiar to any of you?). We do this until it’s time to “Retire” when we’ll supposedly have all this time (Future Us, right?), and what’s the first question folk will ask you? “What are you going to do?”
They expect you to be doing something else. It never ends.
Now, maybe I’ve veered off topic a bit but I assert that the capacity to see past the concept of “There’s more stuff to do. I should do that next, despite all of this other stuff I’ve already done” is a crucial skill.
Learn to step back and enjoy what you’ve accomplished. Set aside some time for you to just be you. Do stuff you enjoy. It’s ok. Tomorrow is another day, and stuff will wait.
Having said all that, I do want to send up a Shout-Out to Past Me for deciding to get the lawns mowed yesterday, shifting the grocery shopping trip to today, as it’s been raining all morning. Here’s hoping that it stops later on, so I can get my walk in. I haven’t quite turned into the person who’ll go out regardless of what it’s doing outside, but I think it’ll only take a nudge to send me over the edge.
Thanks for reading. Be safe out there. Be Excellent to Each other – and yourself.
I’ll see you on Thursday.
###
If you’ve read, and enjoyed any of my books, please consider leaving a review: