Restlessness, the Hard Master

"Restlessness, from being a good servant, might become a hard master; indeed, he does sometimes become so, and people do things that are too hard for them in the way of rowing or climbing, running or jumping.  Worse still, the Daemon of Restlessness possesses them, and they cannot settle to any kind of work or play because they always want to be doing something else.  This is a very unfortunate state to get into, because it is only by going on doing one thing steadily that we learn to do it well, whether it be cricket or algebra...." 

Charlotte Mason, Ourselves 

I am currently enjoying a Living Education Lesson season with Nancy Kelly, and in it, we are reading part of Ourselves.  If you aren't familiar with this volume of her six-volume series, it's a wonderful book on character development. Mason originally wrote it for teenagers, but its instructive truths are perfectly enlightening for adults--and include good reminders that we all need. I know I am not the only person who has read it as an adult and wished that I'd read it 30 years earlier!  

This passage stood out to me recently because I was thinking of how utterly distracted we can all be.  Between cell phones, YouTube, constant sources of news, push notifications, social media apps....how in the world, I often wonder, does anyone without limitations on technology settle down to do anything at all? It seems so omnipresent.  

Mason was writing this long before smartphones hijacked our minds.  Restlessness isn't a new problem; it's just that we now have new ways of indulging in it.  You can never achieve mastery of foreign language, math, or music without a steady daily effort; I think we can all agree to that.  But how about in our domestic lives?

I can see how restlessness has resulted in half-finished chores and projects in my own life in the past!  As I've aged, I've gotten much better at "settling down" and sticking with a task or project, and seeing it through to the end.  There's probably a personality type that struggles with this more than others (probably the creative type!).  If you're like me, you get excited over possibilities.  And then you can get extremely bogged down in implementation,  By disciplining myself to implement--slowly, surely--I accomplish much more than I ever did when I was trying to do ten creative things all at once. 

Restlessness can even disturb our most mundane tasks.  Sometimes it takes actual discipline to finish cleaning the kitchen (all the way), to fold and put away all the laundry, to get the bathroom totally cleaned. Of course, sometimes we have to just do the best we can and leave the rest--like when you have small children! Or if you are ill, or have a spouse or close loved one with an illness. 

Self-discipline is one of the best skills I think we can learn ourselves and teach our children. It's one reason I value chores, music lessons, and Annie's ballet class for my children. They teach us to do things in a systematic, orderly, continuous way, and they train us to do them even when we don't want to do them!  I actually believe that self-discipline soothes the savage beast of restlessness.  But no amount of chores, piano practices, or plies will teach my children to focus if I am not willing to focus myself!  So I also try hard to practice disciplines in my own life: daily exercise, my own chores and housework, and completion of tasks and projects I begin.  This may be one of those things that is "caught" more than taught, but it's important, particularly in our age of countless distractions.  (And addictions: did you know social media was designed to be addictive?) 

"...it is only by going on doing one thing steadily that we learn to do it well..."

Thanks to Charlotte Mason, once again, for the truth and inspiration!