One Good Turn Deserves Another
If you’re going to call someone out on something, you should probably be prepared to put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.
I checked in with Lizzi the other day because, while she is far from being absent to her blog, it seemed unusual not to see a post from her in relatively short time. So we had a little to-do about the whole thing, which she outlines perfectly on her page, but in the end she turned out a lovely tribute to Autumn in England, despite not being a fan of the season herself.
And then it occurred to me that other than the TToT lists, there has been a whole lot of nothing in this space over the last couple of weeks. I knew I kind of had to pony up and write something, too, since I gave Lizzi a hard time and all. I could cite the old Lack of Inspiration excuse as Lizzi did in our little row. I could beg off on the Illness excuse because I have, after all been fighting with this devil of a something-or-other for about the last two weeks. And then there’s the Kidzilla Just Started School one and the Starting Up My New Career one…
They’re all true. What else is true is the fact that the longer you languish and don’t do a thing to address a dry spell or a busy time or a complication (pick any word you like), the easier it becomes to keep making excuses for not doing it. And then the thing becomes a much bigger THING and who wants to deal with it then? Like doing the laundry. You can skip laundry day because you have plenty of clothing to wear without bothering about the laundry. It’s not like you’ll go to work naked. But sooner or later you run out of options and you’re faced with the decision to do the laundry or go buy new underwear so you can continue to avoid doing the laundry.
But every time I sat to write, I either drew a blank and stared at the screen or had a great idea, but couldn’t manage to find a way to get it into words. Frustrating. I really had no idea what to write or how to get it on the screen. I decided to employ the strategy I offered to any student who ever told me they didn’t know what to write: write about the fact that you don’t know what to write. Eventually, something will click and you’ll be fine. Just write. It’s a little metaphysical, perhaps, but it works.
The conclusion that finally hit me was that I’m frustrated. I’m frustrated that I’m not writing. I’m frustrated that I’ve been sick with all of this upper respiratory, allergic, corn smutty nonsense for the better part of two weeks. I’m frustrated that my home remedies have not worked as well as they generally do. I’m frustrated that I broke down and went with the prescription antibiotic. I’m frustrated that it wreaked havoc on my entire system. (Medicine, indeed – it made me feel worse!) I’m frustrated that I’m not cooking as much and whipping up gloriously healthy meals for my family every single night. I’m frustrated that my new-and-improved employment status is not progressing as quickly as I’d like it to. I’m frustrated that I haven’t conquered the long list of projects I planned to tackle once Kidzilla and the Hub were out of the house every day because I’ve been miserable and sick and exhausted. I’m frustrated that I’m not exercising because my lungs quit working after I tie my shoes. I’m frustrated that the Hub and I are bickering constantly because we’re both stressed out and trying to figure out all of these new roles and procedures and ways of doing life and it isn’t going all that smoothly yet.
You get the picture.
Argh!
But in the midst of all of that, I remembered something. OK, I remembered it because the Hub made a comment about a particular situation and it made me realize that it is applicable to the entire scenario here. Life is a process. It takes effort. And something worth doing is worth the effort to do it.
I know. Even when he’s driving me completely nuts, he’s still pretty awesome.
I’m frustrated because I wanted something magical to happen that would deliver me to a state of finished, checked off the list, and finalized by now (in about ten different areas) and that’s just not the way it is. Things rarely go quite the way we plan them and the more we try to control it all, the more that imagined control slips away from us.
There is a great cause and effect dynamic at work in the world. Over the last few days, I’ve tried to piece some of that together. For example, I know that my physical ailments right now are the direct cause of corn smut season. (Yeah – if you missed that, read about it here.) But part of me also thinks I fell victim to it in a big bad way this year because I was not having my daily smoothie. A simple morning ritual, perhaps, but having that smoothie every day with all those superfoods blended together makes a huge difference in my overall health – RA, allergies, etc. I’m sure of it. In the weeks prior to corn smut season, I was not getting a smoothie in every morning. I’ve been praying and reading my Bible less lately and I find myself much more anxious about everything than when those things are a regular and primary focus in my day. I could give you ten more examples here, but I’ll spare you.
I want everything back to normal (whatever that is) and back to the way I imagined it would be right at this moment and I want it that way now. But like my Hub reminded me this morning, it’s a process. All of it. So I’m going to shift my focus from being frustrated about all that is not the way I want it to be and move it to taking the little steps necessary to ensure that I’m working toward getting things in order.
And who knows? Maybe I’ll be inspired to write again tomorrow.
Love this? Share the love and tell someone!
16 Comments
Comments are closed.
FRIST!
And what a great piece! I *felt* your frustration, but it sounds as though you have a great strategy, and GOOD for you 🙂 I wish you every success, and yeah – not like you had a leg to stand on, but I didn’t wanna beat you up about it cos of the sickness and stuff, but you did it yourself, so…. :p 😉
Here’s hoping that you get your smoothie tomorrow, and you WRITE 🙂
Nobody beats myself up quite as successfully as I…that made sense in my head.
And yes, you are indeed frist here today. Glad you came over. 🙂
Yeah, I feel that way too sometimes. Not being employed anywhere yet unable to get anything done. I have to remind that the child-raising is far more important than painting the kitchen, etc. Taking care of your body is the same, even though it just seems plain annoying because it’s supposed to just work! I bet you’ll kick back into gear when you finally recover fully. And hey, I painted my kitchen this week.
My friend May did a post recently that included a quote that fits so perfectly here – something about how the work you do inside your home is the most important of all. That’s not the exactly quote and I don’t remember who said it, but it’s pretty close. I’ll have to ask May and send it to you.
The taking care of your body thing is true – and I really do try to make that a priority, but every now and then I get irritated by the RA and the fact that it occasionally limits me. (And by that I mean “keeps me from pushing myself to unreasonable limits.”)
I am sure I’ll feel more on my game when I’m totally over this. Right now it’s the lingering cough and the strained voice. Speaking takes so much effort that I end up exhausted after a five minute conversation with someone.
You painted the kitchen??? I’m jealous. I had hoped to paint at least one small bathroom by now and…yeah.
Oh, thank you! I’ve fallen off the smoothie wagon, too, and really need to hop back on. It shouldn’t be, but it always is, amazing to me how simple things make big differences. I’ve been pretty diligent with scripture study and prayer, but I’ve not been so good this week with exercise or smoothie-drinking. And I still haven’t gotten that load of laundry done today! Off to do that right now!
Hah – my load is still untouched. Probably not going to happen today.
That smoothie thing, though, has me totally convinced. I have learned a lot about food its health-affecting properties over the last few years and I am convinced that my lack of smoothie and juice consumption is why I have this nasty germ. One of my magic ingredients is radish – sounds not delicious, but I swear the berries cover it up. They are a natural decongestant and since I haven’t been drinking them, I am completely congested. Horrible.
I hate it when I put off the non-essential things to do the must do now things, only to realize those non-essential things really should have been the must do now things.
Go make yourself a smoothie. Feel better very soon!
That made perfect sense to me, Christine, and yes, that’s exactly what happens to me.
I am drinking my second smoothie of the day right now – trying to jump start myself back to feeling great. Honestly, these things are like magic. They just feel like healthy in a glass.
I hope you feel better soon! And, as for as a lack of inspiration – I think we’ve all been there. I think the only way out of it , is to write though it!
That’s about all there is to do! I think it’s more lack of energy thanks to being sick, so I feel like at least I know what the cause may be and that is easily fixed as soon as I get really past this!
Dry spells–we all have them and they are really hard to shake. Congrats on getting something down! And, ahem, corn smut? I am off to find out what that’s all about!
Yeah, I felt like I kind of needed to just shake off the dust and put down words, no matter what they looked like.
Corn smut is horrible and fantastic. It never fails to get a great reaction – it’s like dirty vegetable movies or something. But not really.
Your frustration showed through. I feel your pain. So many times I’ve caught myself saying (mainly out loud to myself), “It shouldn’t be this hard!” The best days I’m able to see the pity party for what it is, and other days I stay stuck in that rut. How fortunate you are that your husband is able to get you back into a better mindset. It’s even more fortunate that you are able to see him for being as fabulous as he is.
That’s about the best word there is for what’s been going on – frustration. I’ve been working on fighting past it. My Hub is somehow very skilled at seeing the logical perspective, which counteracts my very emotional responses to things. And he really is Fabulous!
So glad you’re writing in SPITE of you, Lisa! We can’t move forward while standing in place. (More such profundity available upon request!)
I am soooooo with you on the smoothies. I think the fruit and other good stuff I include every day makes a difference – there’s no other way for me to get as many nutrients in. And I hope it’s goodness balances out the badness of all the pizza I enjoy. Do ya think it works that way?!
That’s exactly it, Shel – the day is only so long and to get in as much as I want to nutrient-wise, I’d have to eat vegetables and fruits like…all day. It’s a power-packed start. And I am certain that it balances out the things like pizza and whatever – definitely. Life’s about balance, right? 😀