A Little More Sun

I have six shamrocks sitting on my dining room table, clustered together. I bought them on clearance on Saint Patrick's Day. Every day, I walk by and admire them. Several days I have looked at them and noted how they didn't quite look as healthy as the day before. So I thought they must need more water. So I gave it to them. This happened several times. Today I noticed how much healthier the one on the end closest to the window looked. The leaves were all overlapping, so it was hard to assess the health of each plant until I pulled them apart. When I did, I discovered that most of them were drowning. They were still encased in their foil wrappers and water was almost spilling over one of them. I quickly dumped out the excess water and resolved to open the blinds and let the sun shine on them. I had misjudged their needs entirely. The one healthy shamrock on the very end grew much larger than the others and even sent up blooms. It was the only one who had enough sun.

I tell you this because it relates very well to my life the past couple of days and my previous post about the spontaneous versus the planning side of ourselves. I did a great job planning my week this week. I mapped out plans to exercise, spend time with my daughter, write, etc, etc. Monday did not go as planned. I was a wreck. How am I supposed to benefit from planning with a fussy baby and a demanding four year old? I couldn't even get through my routine on the elliptical. I yelled. I was less than Christlike. (Later I repented and as we told the Easter story to our daughter at Family Night, I had some raw material to demonstrate just how the Atonement works. After singing hymns together and dyeing Easter eggs, I felt much better about the day).

Anyway, then today was a perfect day. I wrote lots while the baby slept, had an unplanned picnic with Daddy because he forgot his lunch, engaged my daughter in the fun of the Magic Eraser and wall cleaning, got a few things on my to do list done, and still had time to laugh and play and sing with my family after dinner. I learned all the verses to a children's song that has eluded me for years, thanks to my daughter's excitement about it and help.

Yesterday, I thought I needed more planning and precision to fix my day. I kept watering and watering and planning and referring to the plan. Today, I realized that I was drowning. I didn't need more water. What I needed was a little more sun. Laughter, spontaneity, and good old-fashioned fun.

Getting There vs. Enjoying the Journey

I recently read an article written by Richard and Linda Eyre, the founders of valuesparenting.com, about Life Balance. It was about Getting There vs. Enjoying the Journey. I felt moved to share their insights with you here because since reading them myself, I have found it easier to simply enjoy life. Hakuna Matata, as it were.

I am a woman of lists. I schedule as much of my life as I possibly can because it keeps me sane. If I go more than a week without referring to my various lists, I begin to lose my marbles. The side of myself that is oriented toward “getting there” is very strong. I've improved over the years. I don't plan every day of our vacations any more. But I've spent a lot of time worrying about how much I have to do, want to do, should be doing and not enough time just enjoying. My spontaneous, fun-loving side needs a little, okay a lot, more nurturing.

The world seems to want us to stereotype ourselves as either serious or fun, a planner or a flexible “go with the flow” kind of person. In truth, we should be both. We should plan for the future because we do want to get there. But if we think that once we get there, we'll finally be happy, then we are dangerously wrong. All the work and worrying we do is with the mindset of just plugging through life, and one day we'll see the moment when we finally caught up, finally got what we wanted, etc, and then we'll be happy. Until then, it's just the hum drum daily routine. When we see the journey only as a means to an end, then we resent it. We take no time to notice beauty or opportunity. How sad!

The Eyres helped me to sloooow down and stop being obsessed with my to do lists. I stick to them for the most part, but am flexible enough to deviate when I see the need. Suddenly I am playing with the baby more and reading to my daughter more. I'm tickling her, and my husband, who flips out every time. He's very hard to catch. I'm cracking jokes and being silly. I'm still planning my days and weeks and even months. But as I do so, I'm asking myself how I can enjoy them, too. Now I'm not in such a hurry all the time. Life is way more fun this way.

And guess what? I'm able to do more of what Jesus would have me do. That brings the greatest joy of all.