For the past two weeks or so, I've been pondering the way I run my life. And in this period I've not made my daily to-do list. For the first time in 25 years, I'm living a list-less (ha!) life.
We still navigate through morning chores based on my morning chores chart. I still refer to the calendar every day to make sure we don't miss an appointment or an obligation. But I'm not making an ambitious daily to-do list; instead, I've been reading about time, thinking about paradigm shifts, and pondering what it looks like to plan a day to include all the important bits and lots of room for margin.
Instead of making a daily list that I jot down each evening or morning, I have created a rubric of sorts. I'm calling it my scaffolding: an essential structure upon which to build the day. I will write more about that sometime; for now, I'm living it out to see how it goes.
In the meantime, I'm collecting quotes about time. I will share some of them in the coming weeks. Here is one I've had on my refrigerator for over a year, but it hasn't come to full fruition in my spirit until recently.
"To wait open-endedly is an enormously radical attitude toward life. So is to trust that something will happen to us that is fast beyond our imaginings. So, too, is giving up control over our future and letting God define our life, trusting that God molds us according to His love and not according to our fear. The spiritual life is a life in which we wait, actively present to the moment, trusting that new things will happen to us, new things that are far beyond our own imagination, fantasy, or prediction. That, indeed, is a very radical stance toward life in a world preoccupied with control."
--Henri Nouwen (emphasis mine)
I've been listless this summer, and it feels pretty nice. I don't think I'm getting as much done, but I'm pondering the fact that it doesn't really matter in the long run. The important things tend to get done, and anything else might actually not be worth stressing over! (That may just be summer talking; perhaps this fall I'll revert to my lists again. But for now, it's really nice!)
ReplyDeleteI hope this time brings you joy and contentment, Polly. I feel like I've grown as a person since becoming less list oriented. I'm amazed at how much I used to do and how now it doesn't even seem to matter. I don't think I wasted my time, because the things I did were truly worthwhile, but in the grand scheme of running a home, I don't think they were terribly important. And as a benefit, due to being "listless" and dealing with some major medical stress regarding my husband, I've actually prioritized time for myself. I regularly nap (only 10 minutes or so) and then fix a cup of tea and commence sewing for an hour and a half. I would have never done this before in the past, since I would have been too busy making sure everything "important" was finished first.
ReplyDeleteI hope this time brings you joy and contentment, Polly. I feel like I've grown as a person since becoming less list oriented. I'm amazed at how much I used to do and how now it doesn't even seem to matter. I don't think I wasted my time, because the things I did were truly worthwhile, but in the grand scheme of running a home, I don't think they were terribly important. And as a benefit, due to being "listless" and dealing with some major medical stress regarding my husband, I've actually prioritized time for myself. I regularly nap (only 10 minutes or so) and then fix a cup of tea and commence sewing for an hour and a half. I would have never done this before in the past, since I would have been too busy making sure everything "important" was finished first.
ReplyDelete