Finding a balance
Life is overwhelming. I don't mean in that "What is the meaning of life, why am I here?" kind of way. I mean in a, "there's so much to do, so much to learn and how will I ever have time for it all," kind of way.
I'm the kind of person who writes things down, makes lists. If I don't write things down that I want to do then I will likely forget to do it. I write things down like what to buy on my next grocery trip, what website I want to check out later, what new restaurant I want to visit. But, this list is ever expanding and never seems to shrink. I went to EZ Lube (which may be bad) and they had beaucoup issues of Time Magazine in the waiting room. Each issue had a cover story that appealed to me, but I could only pick one to read, so I picked one that said, "How to make sure your food is safe." From that article I learned more about the importance of buying produce and meat locally. It's cheaper, it may be healthier and you support the local economy. The article also gave two websites where I can go to find out where to buy locally grown foods. I wrote those down and now that piece of paper is in my purse among many others for me to compile and put on my great "lists of lists" document.
I also recently perused Time's Article Global Warming Guide with 50 ways to go green. It was great. Informative, detailed, some if it was doable, some of it not (I'm NOT hanging my clothes on a clothesline). It reminded me of when I subscribed to Newsweek for 8 weeks. I loved how in depth and varied their articles were. I loved feeling that I was learning and increasing my knowledge. I loved saying, "I subscribe to Newsweek and I actually read it." But then I started to resent my Newsweek. I started to resent that it was weekly. Why can't it be Newsmonth? I'd get the latest issue in the mail and curse it because I hadn't finished reading the previous issue cover-to-cover. Before I knew it, I was behind 3-4 issues when the next would arrive. It was just too much for me. Too much pressure to finish the damn magazines. I had to put an end to it, so I canceled my subscription and now I am just that much more uninformed.
I just read about a clothing boutique on DailyCandy that opened near me on Ventura that sounds super cute that I now want to check out. On my lists it goes. I have a list of do-it-yourself projects that I want to do like use old wine bottles to fill with olive oil and dried herbs - serves both a decorative and functional purpose. The bottles are there, empty and clean, ready for their oil and herbs. But, I haven't done it and it's been 8 months since I first decided I wanted to do this. I have tons of photos that I want to organize into albums. I have tons of recipes that I want to organize into a recipe box. But, who has the time?
Between work, school, trying to get INTO grad school, making sure that China doesn't kill my cats with their toxic food, being knowledgeable about my car enough to not get ripped off by EZ Lube and Jiffy Lube, writing letters to my congresspeople protesting gas gouging, trying to keep my ass from expanding into yet another zip code and visits to my therapists, who has the time? Will I ever knock out my lists of lists (which doesn't even include long term goals like "learn to surf")?
I'm the kind of person who writes things down, makes lists. If I don't write things down that I want to do then I will likely forget to do it. I write things down like what to buy on my next grocery trip, what website I want to check out later, what new restaurant I want to visit. But, this list is ever expanding and never seems to shrink. I went to EZ Lube (which may be bad) and they had beaucoup issues of Time Magazine in the waiting room. Each issue had a cover story that appealed to me, but I could only pick one to read, so I picked one that said, "How to make sure your food is safe." From that article I learned more about the importance of buying produce and meat locally. It's cheaper, it may be healthier and you support the local economy. The article also gave two websites where I can go to find out where to buy locally grown foods. I wrote those down and now that piece of paper is in my purse among many others for me to compile and put on my great "lists of lists" document.
I also recently perused Time's Article Global Warming Guide with 50 ways to go green. It was great. Informative, detailed, some if it was doable, some of it not (I'm NOT hanging my clothes on a clothesline). It reminded me of when I subscribed to Newsweek for 8 weeks. I loved how in depth and varied their articles were. I loved feeling that I was learning and increasing my knowledge. I loved saying, "I subscribe to Newsweek and I actually read it." But then I started to resent my Newsweek. I started to resent that it was weekly. Why can't it be Newsmonth? I'd get the latest issue in the mail and curse it because I hadn't finished reading the previous issue cover-to-cover. Before I knew it, I was behind 3-4 issues when the next would arrive. It was just too much for me. Too much pressure to finish the damn magazines. I had to put an end to it, so I canceled my subscription and now I am just that much more uninformed.
I just read about a clothing boutique on DailyCandy that opened near me on Ventura that sounds super cute that I now want to check out. On my lists it goes. I have a list of do-it-yourself projects that I want to do like use old wine bottles to fill with olive oil and dried herbs - serves both a decorative and functional purpose. The bottles are there, empty and clean, ready for their oil and herbs. But, I haven't done it and it's been 8 months since I first decided I wanted to do this. I have tons of photos that I want to organize into albums. I have tons of recipes that I want to organize into a recipe box. But, who has the time?
Between work, school, trying to get INTO grad school, making sure that China doesn't kill my cats with their toxic food, being knowledgeable about my car enough to not get ripped off by EZ Lube and Jiffy Lube, writing letters to my congresspeople protesting gas gouging, trying to keep my ass from expanding into yet another zip code and visits to my therapists, who has the time? Will I ever knock out my lists of lists (which doesn't even include long term goals like "learn to surf")?