It takes a village to raise a child.
It takes all day for me to get ready.
Are these ideas related?
Discuss.
“I know you’re super busy…”
I have often been on the receiving end of this kind of statement. This is said to me by random people who clearly don’t know me well.
I am always amused.
It’s been twenty years since we bailed on regular life and all that has really happened is that it takes me longer and longer to start a day.
We generally wake up around 7:30 or 8:00 a.m. Every day begins with coffee. We sip and sit – mostly in silence. Kevin reads his tablet for the news, I write in my journal, and then, I switch to reading whatever book I have handy or checking my email.
An hour or more passes. Breakfast is next. Usually oatmeal.
CBC.
Clean up.
I head out for an hour or so for a good-paced tromp around Roberts Creek. Or we go on a big hike. Or, hallelujah, I’m finally back to yoga. Whatever the ‘thing’ is, it is done in the morning.
While doing these activities, I usually take, and post, my daily Instagram photo.
Back home. Now I need a shower. There are exfoliations and lotions and sunscreens and hair products and then I remember to fit in a thirty-minute meditation.
I’m hungry. Pick some fresh kale. Make lunch. It is now noon. Eat lunch. Clean up.
I am finally ready to start the day.
Seriously.
The remainder of my day is spent working on writing projects, email, too much checking of Facebook, working on mixed-media pieces, doing random stretches on my yoga mat, practising ukulele, running errands, cooking, baking, meeting someone or reading. Around 3 pm, no matter what else is happening – I have a coffee. This too, takes time. Somewhere in there we do laundry and randomly clean bits of the house.
On days when I’m traveling, pretty much none of this happens – except for the 3 pm coffee ritual – and I miss every bit of it.
Around 6:30 or 7:00, it’s dinner prep and clean up, and finally, around 8:30 or 9:00 pm we can finally relax.
Whew. Right??
That, my friends, is a full-on 12-hour-plus day for this camper. I am keenly aware that this is not the kind of 12-hour shift ‘real’ workers put in. I am also very aware that I am blessed. Super duper blessed.
So, if you happen to be near me when someone says they know how busy I am?
You’ll understand why I’m smiling.
“How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.” ~ Annie Dillard
For the last 22 years I have kept a diary. I liked the idea of writing down what I have been doing, where I have been and noting down feelings and impressions that I had in my travels; also sometimes (well, quite often) I forgot what I have been doing the day before! so keeping a diary forces me to remember things.
Every week we do voluntary work for the environment; when we are not working we go for a walk or visit a nature reserve. Our life is aimed at nature – working it, walking it, watching it. We love it.
I’m with you on the memory thing Catherine 🙂
I like the nature focus of all that you do. That’s such a wonderful framework through which to live a life. You’ve got me thinking…thank you.
Too funny Colleen – our crazy lives. And I love the wise woman of Tinker Creek!
To be fair Mr. Jamie 🙂 Yes, Miz Tinker Creek aka Annie Dillard is an amazing writer and wise woman. It’s funny that our crazy lives do like kind of busy but, like your world, isn’t it fabulous that it’s stuff of our own choosing?
Sounds like a delightful way to spend your days! Thanks for the snapshot into your day! I think the “go-to” answer for so many is “I’m so busy.” But ask them what they are busy doing and you’ll find many really don’t have such a grasp on what that looks like. I have started tracking my days in a journal, for a bunch of reasons. Maybe because as I get older, I know there are many more years behind me than in front, so I want to be sure I’m using those years (and days, and hours and well, minutes) the way I want to be, but I’m keeping track.
It looks something like: 1-hour reading, 30 minutes of stretching exercises DVD, 30 min email check, 2 hours of work, one hour lunch, etc. etc.
Optimizing my day! LOL… It feels good though to know when I say “I’m busy,” — I know what it is I’m busy with!
Once again Miz Gwen, we seem to be sharing the same track. I like that you’re keeping notes.
I’ve been doing almost the reverse version of that; where I ask myself in the morning what a ‘successful’ day would feel like. And then I check in with myself at the end of the day.
Success to me starts with taking care of my health – mental, physical, spiritual, emotional. This, all on its own, is a fairly tall order. Everything else has to fall in behind that. Each day I’m learning how to be truly kind to myself. It’s an interesting exercise and one I plan on keeping.