I’m feeling a bit scattered these days. Too many bits and pieces flying around. Too many things up in the air. Even though I’m not working, I still feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day, and I’m not using my time wisely enough. I’m in the middle of too many things, and too many projects are stalled. I want to strip my home of all its excesses. I feel weighted down by stuff. I want to get on with the business of getting a job or more education. I have a long list of things I want to do, as well as things I don’t want to leave undone. Instead I keep frittering away my time on things that matter less. Or worse, things that don’t matter at all, like trying to beat my high score on Bejewelled.
On the bright side, I’m finding time for an hour-long walk each day. I finished writing my short story for my creative writing course. And I went through my closets yesterday and filled three bags with things to give away. (That was a Kindness Week challenge.)
Today looks like this: At 11:30 I’m going to the Art Lending Library to pay for another month’s rental on my painting of pears. (I love that thing. It’s a great big heavily textured piece by Ann Gruchy, and it hangs over my dining room table. I’ve had it for six months and I can rent it for three more months. If I buy it, my rental fees will be deducted from the purchase price. But I can’t afford to buy it.).
Then I’m coming home and taking part in a free online webinar on Homeless Youth and Harm Reduction from 1:00 to 2:00. It’s being hosted by the Wellesley Institute.
At 3:00 I’m walking over to the hospital for a follow-up appointment with my neurosurgeon. By the time I get back, it’ll be almost time to start making dinner.
It’s 9:30 now, so I’ve got just two hours to do other stuff. I know some of you would kill for two hours to yourself, since you have to cram all your living in around your job, so I shouldn’t be complaining to you. (When I was a single mom on welfare, I knew this teacher who would frequently complain to me about how incredibly poor she felt. It occurred to me that one should always choose their sounding boards carefully. If you’re going to complain about money, complain to someone who has more than you. Same thing with time. So I apologize for this post if you’re one of those genuinely time-starved people who can’t imagine anything more decadent than a two-hour chunk of time.)
Now that I’m thinking about it, I ought to be able to get a lot of things done in two hours. Back in my Fly Lady days, I got all my housework done in 15-minute bursts. Set the timer for 15 minutes, and tackle a job – decluttering a closet, cleaning the bathroom, vacuuming, whatever. As soon as the timer sounds, you stop. The theory is that a) it gets you over the procrastination hump, b) you can accomplish a lot in 15 minutes if you work fast, and c) no matter how much you hate something, you can stand it for 15 minutes.
I’m going to go search through my clutter for my timer.
I find that no matter how much time I have – it’s never enough. Even a two-hour chunk gets used up quickly and I go where in the hell did it go?
I know the feeling: when I lost a job a couple years ago, my volunteering duties immediately expanded to fill the available time. It took me over a month to even dust off my resume.
I’m also a bit relieved that I didn’t get the full-time job I was applying for. I can stay in the part-time one I’ve got and not lose precious time for extracurriculars and essentials.
– RG>
Is this the one?
http://www.artlendingofottawa.com/images/Artist_images/Ann_Gruchy_Pear_Fiesta_Acrylic_on_board_12x12_no2.jpg
No need to feel bad about talking about your crunch for time. Time is like closet space – it gets filled up even if it’s just with unimportant junk, until there is none left. I always feel especially crunched when I get a few hours to myself because I feel like I should be doing something important or useful, but I usually just end up wasting it. And I have only just recently been able to break my addiction to Bejewelled…that game is brutal.
And I can’t believe I had forgotten about the Fly Lady! I signed up when I was home on my first mat leave. My husband was working from home finishing up his thesis, and he was going crazy with all of the emails that were arriving constantly. Yeah, that didn’t last long….
It’s a rule in my household. The second you have 10 minutes free, someone will drop by, or something will happen, and you no longer have that 10 minutes free. That rule kind of came into full effect this year–I’ve not spent more than a week or two at my own apartment since the beginning of January. So, in short… do I ever know the feeling. Yeesh.
This Art Lending Library has me seriously intrigued. We moved to Ottawa in July and we still (!) don’t have anything up on the walls. Except a big painting of a giant squid a friend from Vancouver painted for me. It’s awesome and has me wanting MORE real texture, real oil painting in my home. But geeeesssh! $$!
It might be the configuration of the stars and moon as I’m feeling very much the same.
Valerie, I know, it’s crazy. Time is so weird.
Grouchy, I seem to be taking on more volunteer work too. Maybe I’ll end up with a patchwork of contracts, part-time jobs, volunteer work and hobbies. Like you.
Stephanie, nope, that’s not it. This one’s more yellows and sea-greens, and it’s got tons of texture. She built up the texture using plaster of paris before painting it.
Finola, how did you break your Bejeweled addiction!? Do you miss it? And the Fly Lady – yes, the barrage of email was her undoing in my case too. That and the lace-up shoes. But I did keep the 27-fling boogie and the 15-minute timer method.
James, that doesn’t happen to me…nobody’s stealing that time away from me, I’m just using it wrong.
Kim, Art Lending is for you then. You missed it this month, but it’s the 3rd Tuesday/Wednesday of each month, at the Unitarian Church on Clarey. (Cleary?). You can rent art for as little as $14 a month.
Cheryl, I suspect this problem is bigger than the both of us.
Regarding Bejewelled, I just traded one addiction for another: I started my blog and started reading and commenting on other people’s religiously
I don’t miss it, Knitnut is MUCH more interesting.