If you are like me, you rehearse your accomplishments at days’ end and then judge how much they (and therefore you) amount to. This may work fine when great things have been accomplished, but what about the days when it is just that all the members of your family have been accounted for? Tethering my sense of worth to the amount I accomplish in a day and how worthwhile I judge it to be, drains away my joy. It doesn’t motivate me towards further achievement, but demoralizes me.
I remember obsessing over the quantities of adequate nourishment our babies and toddlers were getting at each feeding, until the pediatrician reassured me, that as long as they were getting their nutritional needs met in the span of a week, they’d be fine. Sometimes I find I hyperfocus on each day, and want to pack the minutes, hours and days in a productive way, that I run out of gas 2 ½ days into the week. I would rather step back, get some perspective, and extend myself some grace. So when I do desire to make a concrete list of tasks and strategies, I can look at the scope of the week or even the month, rather than just the day, to see what has been accomplished, and then to plan accordingly.
Productivity is great, but I mustn’t let it rule or define me. When I find myself keeping a frenzied pace, I need to remind myself that there is nothing to prove. That I am a human BEING not a human DOING. Whether or not my achievements on a particular day seem to amount to much, doesn’t alter my worth.
4 comments:
I love the part about all the members of the family being accounted for. That is indeed an accomplishment!
Your grandmother used to make extensive lists each day of "things I gotta do" (and sometimes an auxiliary list called "why don'tcha") and then feel guilty when she didn't get everything done. I said, "Mom, who made the list anyway?"
Julia, I love your perspective of taking the long view. Every day simply cannot be a day of great accomplishment. Actually, I think we need the "non-accomplishment" days in order to get to the "accomplishment" days.
We could think of like writing. Some days you write and you look at what you wrote and it seems no good at all. But you have to write through the "no good" writing to get to the "good writing.
We could also think of prayer and meditation. Some days, prayer/meditation time is full of mental distractions. But those days are necessary to get to what we consider the more satisfying prayer/meditation times.
Over the long run, we accomplish by showing up and being faithful. Thank you for this great post and reminder!
I agree with Barb and Karen. Like your idea of making a list but letting it represent a week's (or more) to do's rather than TODAy.
I'm enjoying the slower pace of life now that the intensive serving demands are fewer. But hopefully I will do what Karen wisely said..show up and be faithful..that's doing in addition to being!
thanks for sharing ju. I'm gonna let my lists find a happier middle ground.
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