prelude
i woke up unsure of i wanted to write about this morning — something that happens fairly often. usually, inspiration hits as i sip coffee and peruse my favorite blogs/websites. this morning led me to this hilarious flowchart via shelby‘s blog, accompanied by a post entitled “how to craft a blog post out of absolutely nothing.” HA!
in lieu of a ♥ things i’m loving now ♥ post [although honestly? i ENJOY these posts on others’ blogs! you might even count these posts themselves as one of many things i’m loving now] — i thought i’d dig into the vault of requested topics graciously provided by you!
to push or not to push
i received this interesting question [not sure if the commenter wanted to remain anonymous, so i’ll leave the name off]:
how do you push yourself to do everything you do specially on some very stressful days with all the ttc thing going on? in particular, i am referring to the things you could skip like cooking, reading etc. and how do you manage to read so much, do you have all your day planned to the last minute? in a nutshell: how do you not let your moods and emotions effect your productivity?
✔ i definitely do NOT always do everything. first, i would like to clear up any impressions some of you seem to have of me that i am some sort of hyper-together automaton that ALWAYS get everything done according to plan [and up to my standards.] as leo babauta pointed out recently, the ‘digital version’ of a person often ends up as an idealized version of a real one, simply because who is going to blog about what they DON’T like about themselves? i do share a lot, and recently i have opened up more about negative thoughts and feelings, but i do think ‘knowing’ someone online is always different than knowing the real individual.
in attempt to TRY to keep it real, please know that i struggle ALL the time with:
– being too tired to read at night. oh, and staying up at night in general! yep, i get up early, and i’m a morning person. but lasting past 9-10 pm can be a challenge. even on weekends.
– how much time i should be spending on my work outside of work
– getting up off the couch to work out, particularly if that workout is planned for the afternoon. just yesterday i got home at 5:45 and immediately decided i needed a rest day. yoga did not happen. even though theoretically it was on my ‘list.’
i even have an un-productivity symbol: the dash means i DIDN’T get it done.
– motivation to NOT procrastinate on projects [particularly ones i am less excited about!]. the ones i am worst about are the medium-sized ones — things that would not be disastrous if i had to get them done over one weekend, but that WOULD have been more pleasant [and possibly higher quality] had they been spread out over longer!
– the urge to just lie down on the couch and pout about things i cannot [and therefore should not try to] control.
✔ in general, i do things that i love to do. i enjoy running. i like cooking after a long day at work [it’s calming, and it brings me happiness to make meals for josh and no, i don’t care how 1950s that sounds]. i adore reading. i love yoga — although that wasn’t always true!
even though it still takes some push to get myself off the couch to do these things, for the most part it’s easy to convince the “id” inside of me to cooperate with her friends ego + superego. because really, they all want the same thing. i try not to regularly put things on my lists that i TRULY don’t want to do; instead, i set myself up for success by filling it with things i really love.
this means that our apartment is not dust-free and sparkling clean [my 1950s homemaking urges ONLY apply to work in the kitchen. oh, and the laundry.]. it means that i’m not spending hours after work poring over the latest news in pediatric endocrinology. and it means that i don’t generally go to spin class or spend hours each week lifting weights [my least favorite part of working out! luckily, i’m still having fun with the 2 NROL4W workouts/week].
so, there you have it! to the writer of this question, i hope these answers helped at least a little.
Q&A of the day: in honor of the post i referred to earlier, i ask you all: what are YOU loving now? and of course, if you have any thoughts on the productivity question above, i’d love to read them, too!
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3.14.11
workout: nada! i laid back on the couch, watched desperate housewives, and ate cheese + crackers instead. see?
scallops = luxury i often order scallops at restaurants, so bringing them home felt super-luxurious and fun. [well, and at >$3/scallop, the feeling of ‘luxury’ wasn’t exactly an illusion! good thing this was the only meat item in my cart!]
from the march issue of clean eating:
seared scallops with grapefruit, spinach, and mint
meditation: 15 minutes x 1 yesterday. wow, that felt long! i do think i handled many of the pages i got with a decent amount of equanimity, though.
excavation question of the day . . .
in what areas of your life can you have less reaction and more divine interpretation? for instance: in your relationships, when things get stressful at work, when you’re stuck in traffic, when you make a mistake, and so on.
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