Take Your Time
My thought was that winter would be weird, lonely, and slow. I’m not sure about the weird and lonely part yet, but it’s definitely not slow. I’m slammed with graphic design work, which is awesome (cha-ching) but also very, very stressful. Freelancing is a cycle of feast or famine. I’m at feast.
On top of that, I’m doing numerous other things, like being an art teacher at Rockaplay; being a columnist; trying to be a good daughter, visiting my parents weekly; selling a car, helping friends cat-sitting; remembering to shut off the outside water so the pipes don’t freeze; wrapping my fig tree so it doesn’t die; trying to exercise my body; attempting to decorate for Christmas—but that might not happen until December 23rd; trying to thoughtfully buy Christmas gifts; eating; you know… juggling it all. Like all of us.
This is pretty much representational of what my mind looks like right now but alas, the fig tree is wrapped!
I struggle with managing all the hats I wear these days and I overthink everything. When the pace of life is normal, it’s manageable, when it’s accelerated like now, it’s not good for me. I wonder often how my friends with toddlers or my friends who work 5 days a week 9 p.m. – 7 p.m. handle it all. And then I wondered maybe one day when I’m old and I need help getting down the steps of my house, I’ll feel like I took this all for granted – I was annoyed all the time, too stressed, too angry, or too sad.
I saw a story on Instagram from Sean, (@seanypizza) last week that stopped me in my tracks. The screen was all white with just the text: “Take your time.” I took a breath and came back to planet Earth. You can only make one pizza pie at a time. I need to remember this. And maybe you also need this reminder as we enter the busy holiday season.
Time is precious. We don’t know what tomorrow will look like, or what 80 years old will look like. This IG message from Sean was a meaningful reminder that we can only do so much and we need to decide what is a priority and how to balance those priorities while keeping ourselves ok. Nothing will get done if you’re not in the right frame of mind to do your work, smile at your children, or care for your mom.
On this note, I will not overwrite my column just to hit 500 words. I will end it short because I feel I’ve made the point and it’s time to move on to the next thing.
For more musings, follow me on Instagram as I go about my busy winter days. – @theglorifiedtomato.
