Thursday, March 3, 2011

A Revelation (Complete with Light Bulb)

I'm sitting here shuffling paper work and just had a scary thought. Scary because of the implications if I analyze it further.

I like and enjoy (on one level or another) everything I do during a day's time. (Yes, even the "jobs" I have to do.) What makes me unhappy, discontent, cranky and unsatisfied is what I DON'T get done.

It's as simple as that.

23 comments:

Susan said...

Come over here and lie on my couch. I am going to get my pad and pencil....

Kim said...

I read your blog all the time- I think you are great! I don't ever comment but I had to comment on this post because this is exactly how I feel!! Do you think it's a sickness?? I can get tons done in a day and still lie and bed and think about the things on the list that didn't get finished :) Hope you get lots done today and thanks for blogging- I love to see what you've been up to even if I don't comment :)

2 Tramps said...

I can have a really good day and feel like I have gotten so much done. But when the sun goes down and Tramp 1 is on his way home from work, I can look around and everything I got done seems like so much less than it did hours before. We are all too hard on ourselves...

Jane @ Hard Work Homestead said...

Now Mama Pea, if you got everything done in a day then that would mean you were super human and you would make the rest of us feel bad about ourselves because it is March and some of us never cleaned up the garden from last year - Ahem. So consider it taking one for the team.

Anonymous said...

I love my daily routine too! My chores, cooking, computer time, dog time...love it. The only time I am bothered by something I didn't get done is when it's a result of me either just being lazy, or living with the assumption that it will be boring, hard or painful. Like...I've been putting off organizing the kitchen, everything is everywhere, I need to put up shelves, purge and reorganize everything...I keep looking at it like it's going to be this daunting task...I should be seeing it as a cathartic cleansing, lol...that bothers me! :)

Anonymous said...

I'm trying this through Firefox. Hoping my comments work this time. I have a list I make and I start panicking at the end of the day if I haven't completed it. Of course, if I stopped adding to it during the day, I might be ok. It's a sickness-LOL

mtnchild said...

I have a one foot high pile of papers sitting here and I shuffle all the time. Nothing gets sorted, nothing gets put away, and I've learned to ignore it. I just add to it. It does seem insurmountable, but maybe if I try one inch at a time it will eventually get where it's suppose to ... ya think? LOL
Hugs
Yvette

Freedom Acres Farm said...

Oh, I have the SAME problem. I always say I need 42 hours not 24 in my day. So much to do, so little time.

I try to relax and enjoy the process but some days it's hard and frustrating when you want to accomplish so much more.

Praying for both of us :-)

Mama Pea said...

Susan - But . . . but . . . but Doctor, shouldn't you be wearing a white coat??

Kim - Thank you so much for commenting! And thanks for the nice words. (I am not worthy!)

Is it a sickness? Well, I know it's not healthy. It takes the joy away from what we DO get done.

2 Tramps - Yes, it is ourselves that set up these mostly unrealistic goals, but just how do we go about silencing those damning voices? (Okay, so "damning" was a pretty strong word to use, but "darning voices" just didn't have the right ring to it.)

Jane - YOU NEVER CLEANED UP THE GARDEN FROM LAST YEAR??! Jane, I can hardly believe that!

Rain - And the thing is when you do go ahead and do what needs to be done in the kitchen it will give you SUCH a sense of accomplishment and you'll feel so GOOD that you'll feel really stoopid for putting it off for so long. Been there, done that.

Anonymous said...

EXACLTY! LOL! That's where another lightbulb turns on doesn't it?

Mama Pea said...

Ruth - HEY, your comment came through here! I think you fixed your problem!

The reason I would label it a sickness is because I recognize the problem and yet don't seem to be able to change my thinking/behavior.

Yvette - One game I play with myself when I have a task I don't want to do is to say I will start in on it and if it seems just too disagreeable/unpleasant, I give myself permission to stop. Most of the time when I do that I am through the chore before I think about it again. (Ah, the way we trick ourselves . . . )

Freedom - You know how they say we're supposed to "enjoy the moment?" That's what we need to do. It's also what I have a really, really hard time doing.

Please pray hard. :o)

Erin said...

LOL... "trying not to think about it" only works for so long, eh? :)

Sparkless said...

Well that sounds perfectly normal to me. Life is full of things to do and if you ever got them all done well you know what that means.....

Sparkless said...

Jane I didn't clean up my gardens from last year either. I leave them full of weeds and dead stuff to keep the cats from using them as cat boxes all winter and spring. I only clean them out when I'm ready to plant them. I figure some of that plant material breaks down over the winter and is good compost for the gardens. Yup, that's my story and I'm sticking to it! LOL!

Mama Pea said...

Erin - "Trying not to think about it" . . . that only works for me for about 30 seconds! I have this over-conscientious voice in my head that won't let me forget about it!! First order of changing is to get rid of that voice. Out, evil voice, out!

Sparkless - I'm (slowly) coming to see that getting everything done is not the answer. Not the answer, heck! We know that's IMPOSSIBLE. Methinks I have to learn to (okay, I'll say it) BE more in the moment, and enjoy what I am getting done while I'm getting it done. Get my happiness in the here and now. If I can learn to get the joy, satisfaction and contentment from that which I am actually experiencing, I won't feel as if I have to keep doing more, more, more to feel good. (What did I just say?)

Dmarie said...

love hearing that you love your work...whatever it may be at any given moment. what a gift! look forward to seeing more of your blog

Mama Pea said...

Dmarie - Welcome and thanks for leaving a comment. It's true, I'm at a good place in my life. Now I need to work on taking the pressure off I put on myself. I need to scale back on my expectations of myself . . . and be happy about it!

Jane said...

I rarely get thru with everything I need to do,or even have on my to do list. Today I went grocery shopping,that was a job by itself. Blessings jane

Mama Pea said...

Jane2 - Isn't it amazing how one "job" can take up the whole day? For months now I've been saying, "If I get all the laundry and ironing done on Monday that should be ALL I have to be accountable for on that day. That's all." I do get the laundry and ironing done each Monday . . . but always feel I SHOULD get a few other things done. Why do I feel that way?

P.S. Ha! Word Verification is "bicha." I bicha, bicha, bicha.

Jenyfer Matthews said...

Another revelation - there will always be something else to do so you'll never really be done. All you can do is prioritize things for the day and get the most important / time sensitive stuff done first - then go quilt :)

Mama Pea said...

Jen - Spelled out that way it sounds so simple! I gotta learn to do that. Thanks for the sound advice.

Sue said...

Hi Mama Pea---I'm back to pester you for however long the internet works!
I love my days too-I think that's why I enjoy reading your blog so much--we both take pleasure in the simple everyday things(and isn't that what life should be??).
Anywho, I'm thinking of you-just been busy chasing birds and enjoying the warmth. I checked the forecast back in Michigan-yup-I'm glad I left!
I know my comments will be spotty for a bit, but eventually I'll be caught up!
Enjoy the day (I know you will!!)

Mama Pea said...

Hi, Sue! For some reason I thought of you this morning upon arising and was wondering when all of us out here in blogland would hear from you again. I miss your "at home" posts as I'm sure everyone else does but we'll be generous and allow you your vacation time in the warm climes and with your grandson! Post when you can and enjoy yourself away from the snow and cold. We've got temps in the high 20s here today but still lots of snow to melt. I'm tempted to go take pictures of my garden areas to show everyone just how much snow we still have.