After only 1/3 of my sabbatical, I dug myself right back into the patterns most familiar to me. What started off as a year to think, write and spend quality time with my family is slowly turning into regular life.
How did I end up in charge of t-shirt design & sales for the PTA? Why am I the only in-class volunteer for the kindergarten class (I spent my morning making cut-out turkeys!)? I was out two evenings this week already—book club Monday and a publishing talk last night--and tonight I am supposed to go to a screening of the movie “Motherhood” followed by a Q&A with the director afterwards. It all sounds fabulous, right? Except I am an “accept” addict!
I was just about to dash off to a “Nutritional Sense and Nonsense” lecture this morning--in between elementary school volunteering and a run I had planned, when I caught myself in an old habit—figuring out how I was going pack more into my day—I wanted to hit the grocery store before picking up the boys and still needed to go to Staples for a bunch of supplies. I started triaging my to-do list...
I realize part of this year means I actually must learn to say no! Give a smile, dig my fingernails into my palms and keep my mouth shut. When those invites pop into my in-box, just quietly, in the privacy of my own home, hit “decline” or tick the “unable to join you” box. While I am thankful to be included, how many open houses do I need to attend before I feel like the holiday cheer consumed all of my time? I certainly don’t need to stand around in an itchy sweater drinking for hours when I’d rather be in a ski jacket on a sled with my boys!
So, here I am, right where I want to be, writing at my computer. They won’t miss me at the lecture today. And, I’ll take the kids to the grocery store with me this afternoon—it’s good for them to understand the food doesn’t magically appear in the cupboards. Now that I'm in a calmer state of mind, I'll figure out how to make do with random supplies for my project. Now I can look forward to a long run without feeling cheated or overwhelmed.
All of the sudden I am back on track and who knows, I may actually accomplish everything I set out to do by leaving many things undone.
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