Don't you miss the days when you could simply turn off the light, flip over onto your side, and be asleep in five minutes? I do. I do a LOT! Everyone knows the feeling; your mind starts racing...what do I have to do tomorrow? Who do I have to call? I really should have registered the car today so I have it by the end of the month. Why did I have to yell at the kids like that? Why did the kids make me yell at them like that? (see how I turned that around right there?)
Even when I am DOG tired, as soon as my head hits the pillow....BAM! Wide awake while my husband and dog snore away incessently...that's the salt in the wound right there! I tell myself I should get up and write or at the very least, make a couple of notes on the pad I keep on my bedside table, as I think my best ideas come at either bedtime or at 2:30a.m. when I wake up in a panic about...see above! But I don't. Instead I beat myself up and fight with myself to STOP THINKING. We all do that. I'm sure there are heads nodding emphatically reading this and thinking, "I know exactly how she feels!"
So how do I fix this? Hmmm.....make a list today to answer the question of what I have to do tomorrow and who I have to call? Register the car sooner than two weeks before it expires? Stop yelling at the kids? (yeah, right) It's doable, I know it is, just like reaching over and grabbing my notepad in the middle of the night. Ahem.
I love reading articles about how incredibly easy it is to organize your life, your house, your family...it's as easy as 1,2, 3! "Come on, now, no more excuses! Just follow these 25 easy steps and within only a few short weeks you'll be able to lay your head down at night and sleep peacefully." In a perfect world there are 25 easy steps...well, in a perfect world I guess I wouldn't need the steps in the first place because I'd be organized and happy and channeling Donna Reed. In my world, though, I get to step 4 and I start to wane. By step 9 I'm starting to line up my excuses and by step 14 I've added that article's magazine to my recycling pile never to lay eyes on again. "Easy steps"....riiiight!
So here it is...I'm not going to beat myself up. Well, I'm going to try not to anyway. I'll renew my website favorites to include Flylady.net and pick and choose what I'll do and listen to, but perhaps not always take, advice on how to get it done. I'll tell myself, and try to believe, that tomorrow is another day. I'll register the car, I'll call so-and-so, and I won't yell at the kids. I'll try not to yell at the kids. I'll try not to yell at the kids too much.
I'll give myself a clean slate every morning and try to give myself a break. It's the best I can offer myself.
~Eileen Cassidy Bishop
I have about 7 emails sitting in my Inbox from Flylady because like you I had a new lease on life and was going to try to get organized. Then I stepped into reality and my life with 3 kids. I realized as long as there are no crumbs on the floor, everyone has at least one thing to wear and the bathrooms are usable, the other stuff will just have to wait. You know I love everything you have to say so this is awesome! Love, Christine
ReplyDeleteoh yeah gurl....make list, put circle if it is NOT done and a check if it is ...stays on the list...turn the pillow over to the cold side...cover the tv and alarm with magenta scarves...learn to use your words and ask your children to also...yes my dearie...clean out the pantry when you can't sleep and turn that circle next to Car Reg to a check...there now lovie - see you've got it!
ReplyDeleteChickie definitely snores louder than me. If we all had the control to put our minds to rest like we put our bodies, we'd be Einsteins or saints. Instead we like to think we have all the control over it and we don't. For me, I pray to ease my worried mind- I'm no Billy Graham, but no matter how big or small the problem, it helps me and my worried mind.
ReplyDeleteGeno, I think you should be more clear; Chickie is the DOG, not your WIFE! :)
ReplyDelete