I’ve been thinking about what’s important to me lately. It’s become absolutely clear that I don’t have enough energy to do all the things I want to do or should do. It’s frustrating.
So, I figured I should make a comprehensive list of what’s important to me (in no particular order):
- My sanity
- Having enough money to have food and clothing (i.e. my job)
- My family & friends
- My writing
- Other creative pursuits
- Becoming a better person
Honestly, “other creative pursuits” could probably drop to the bottom of this list, except when it relates to “my sanity”.
I’d be happy to drop “my job” off the list, except that I’d just have to replace it with some other source of money and/or food and clothing–which would probably take just as much time and energy as the job, so I might as well just stick with the job.
I struggle with “my family and friends”. None of my family and friends gets to see me as often as they would like. So, I think it ends up lower on the list than it ought–and so it definitely can’t fall off the list.
I think it’s pretty clear around here that “my writing” is a priority for me–but at the same time, it’s not as high on the list as it would need to be in order for me to become a professional writer. I don’t write every day. Sometimes I don’t even write every week. *shame-face* Maybe I’m just a hobbyist. Since it’s one of the things I define myself by, I’d hate to relegate it to “hobby” forever, but … is it more important than the food & clothing that come with having a job? Is it more important than my friends and family? Is it more important than my sanity?
This is really the crux of my dilemma. I put quite a lot of stock in “my sanity”. I “need” 8-9 hours of sleep every night. I “need” down-time, in which I’m not harassing myself about what I “ought” to be doing. And when I get home, and the idea of figuring out how to switch my brain into thinking about something different–like, my current novel–is just so painful, I can’t even fathom it. So I lie on the couch with a book, or a movie. And then I get absorbed into the movie, or the book, and I don’t ever switch back into brain-functioning mode.
I wonder if setting a timer for myself might help. Read for 30 minutes, then go pick up the notebook and stare at it with a pen in my hand for at least 30 minutes. If the pen happens to scratch symbols onto the page, all the better. I think that’s called BIC*. When the 30 minutes are done, if I want to go back to the book or the movie, then I may. Hmm…
This doesn’t resolve how to have time (and energy) for all those other things. Like, learning to be a better person. Spending time corresponding with the people who are interested in corresponding with me. Knitting that hat I told Ben I’d make him for Christmas….
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* I may have to remove the piles of paper from all around my office in order for this to work^. And I seriously need a comfortable desk chair.
^ You say I’m procrastinating? Who, moi?
