Done for the Week: Here We Go Again

 

This morning I awoke in my own bed, next to my own husband--after three weeks of sleeping in my study due to night time coughing and concerns of contagion. I awoke unsummoned by the alarm I had diligently set last night, almost a full hour later than I planned to--and needed to--get up. I think I've found the last clock in the house still on standard time. 

So now I'm late before I've even started.  A frustrating way to begin the week.  Lately, the number of days that I have to become conscious and (somewhat) literate at the crack of dawn in order to squeeze this blog in before scheduled meetings and appointments has been growing.  This won't be the last time this week, nor the second last, nor the third, that I am "on the clock" as soon as my feet hit the floor.

In a related move, I've decided to tweak this "done list" post this morning, by adding the identification of a goal for the coming week.  And this week's goal is to meditate 5 times.  By going public with this intention, I hope to ratchet up my attention to this need, and to make finding/taking time to sit on my cushion a higher priority.

Last week, all my rushing around resulted in the following.

Done List--Week of Mar. 22-Mar. 28

1. Finished The Procrastinator's Handbook:  Mastering the Art of Doing It Now, by Rita Emmett; The Big Squeeze:  Tough Times for the American Worker, by Steven Greenhouse
2. Took my blood pressure daily
3. Investigated a new, and ultimately unsatisfactory dog exercise area with my dog
4. Attended 4 meetings; scheduled 2 more
5. Published 5 blog posts
6. Meditated 1 time
7. Celebrated happy hour with my not-so-happy spouse
8. Was treated to dinner and the ballet by a friend; had a wonderful time
9. Spent an inordinate number of volunteer hours on major work project for nonprofit 
10. Participated in national conversation with Big Squeeze author Steven Greenhouse, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
11. Parented one teenager through another post-midnight mini-crisis
12. Helped heroic husband assemble data to complete our tax filing
13. Provided 15 hours of child care to two-year-old grandson
14. Spent time I could have spent meditating on Bejeweled Blitz; had highest score of my friend group
15. Slogged through the house I didn't have time to clean to accomplish the above

Next week, I hope to grow item 6, and shrink 14. For now, I'm off to an interview and two meetings.