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Productive Day
Jan. 21st, 2013 10:08 pmI am beginning to suspect that I have some sort of sense of entitlement that interferes with my level of productivity at home. Oh, sure, part of it is that I like my home life to be an antidote to stress. But there may also be a not-very-helpful childhood philosophy that when you're a grown-up you can do whatever you want.
There's some truth to that, but it's most true if you've been well brainwashed by the time you are an adult into wanting what you are supposed to want. Like a nice clean room and delicious vegetables.
Whenever I have nothing scheduled, I often think to myself, "Yea, I get to do whatever I want!" And I translate that as doing only things that are fun in and of themselves such as eating ice cream and reading. All of a sudden, long-term goals that I also want disappear out of my head.
I just read a book on decluttering that says that sometimes there are underlying psychological issues that really should be addressed if you want your decluttering efforts to actually work. And when I read that, there was a tiny pang of fear and recognition, as if I probably have something to deal with that probably won't be any fun to deal with.
But fortunately I don't (think I) have any of the specific (often scary and deep) issues the author mentioned. However, I do feel that this whatever-I-want thing may not be working out for me the way I want. As I slowly build better neatness habits, I can see that these neatness habits don't exactly match my usual interpretation of my whatever-I-want mantra.
Examples:
* A car can stay neat if you never let crap pile up in it. After a vacation, I may not want to clear everything out the moment I arrive home. But most of the time, it's pretty easy to take a look around and make sure I'm bringing everything back in with me that I don't want to leave in the car. Doing that is not high on my list of activities I look forward to, but keeping up with it is easy, and having a nice neat car at all times is a fabulous luxury that I quite enjoy. (Note: I do not have children or pets or any other such difficulties. I am not judging you by the condition of your car.)
* Microwaves stay clean if you prevent messes as best you can and clean up messes that happen despite your best efforts right away, while it's still easy. My microwave is over 13 years old and it's still clean inside, a feat I would have thought impossible at one point. And it's been easy. I never think, "yea, I don't have any activities, so I think I'll sponge up some spilled hot chocolate." And yet, if I think of that sponging as part of the process of getting to have hot chocolate when I accidentally slam it into the edge of the microwave instead of setting it directly into the interior of the microwave, then it detracts very little from what I want to do. (Also not judging you on your microwave. There was a time I didn't even know an old microwave could be clean.)
In related news (she optimistically decides), I had the day off from work today and got a lot of stuff done. I actually attempted everything on my list, which, does that ever happen?
PT Appointment
I still think I might be able to heal my shoulder myself (there's definitely been some improvement since I got my new book), but I don't have any new ideas for my heel, so I thought I may as well make a physical therapy appointment. They did say they can focus on only one problem at a time and made me prioritize, but both are quite minor and I'm going to fill out the paperwork for both problems. Even if they don't want to go through the whole diagnosis process for both on the first day, I might talk them into doing the second one on my second appointment.
Stretches
Speaking of which, I did my stretches and exercises for these injuries. It's best to do these (and basically everything productive) before it gets to be too late at night and I get sleepy and decide it's best if I just go to bed.
Shopping
Yesterday, I found out that it's Wheatsville member appreciation week, but I didn't have enough items to want to take advantage of the (one-time) discount, so I decided to go back today when it wasn't crowded. This plan did not work: there was no parking, so I just left. Normally, Robin always wants to come shopping with me, so he is happy with this decision--we will go tomorrow evening instead. My trip was not a total waste, though, because the greenhouse effect in my car felt good and Amy's is on my way home from Wheatsville.
Ice Cream
I cashed in my coupon for one free quart of ice cream from Amy's that I got after I tried donating blood (instead of accidentally letting it expire). They have a case of pre-packed quarts that I hadn't noticed before, so I picked up a dark chocolate one. (There are signs up about donating blood, so it looks like that's still an option for those of you locals who would like to donate blood.)
Laundry Soap
For some reason, fancy environmental laundry soap is way more expensive than regular chemical-laden laundry detergent. So I often make it myself out of soap, washing soda, and borax, which are very cheap ingredients. This often is my one productive activity of the day since it requires grating a bar of laundry soap, which is not very fun. Even though I get to feel all manly when I do it.
Cook
It's good to cook something for lunches. Today I made spinach artichoke-heart pasta. And had some for lunch. And cleaned up the dishes afterwards. I love having something delicious ready to bring to work, and this has (minor amounts of) actual vegetables in it as well as pasta with fiber in it.
Bonus
I also did something not on my list, which was to go through my closet and get rid of a few things. This was not a thorough decluttering. But I did pull out a jacket that needs elbow patches. And a shirt that is too huge for me but I love the pattern so I'm going to cut quilt squares out of it. And I (over-)filled a bag with clothes that I am now admitting I will never wear and added it to my donation pile.
I also did a load of laundry. And went to the gym as usual.
I still don't quite feel like Beth from Bad Hair Days who could do an insane amount of work in one day like do eight loads of laundry, wash the dogs, sweep and mop all the floors in her large-sounding house, cook, do dishes, clean the kitchen, and I don't remember what else. Much more fun to compare myself to my usual self instead of to her, so that's what I'll do!
And now I'm done! So I can do whatever I want!
Blog of the Day
Own Your Bombness by Shola at Cubepipheny - a fun entry on New Year's resolutions, or really achieving what you want. At first it sounds like it's going to be depressing, but then the author says things like you should think of your body as "a one-in-a-billion piece of art," because that's what it is. Now that's a good mantra: "My body is a one-in-a-billion piece of art."
He also declares 2013 to be the year of the nice guy and would like us to join the revolution.
There's some truth to that, but it's most true if you've been well brainwashed by the time you are an adult into wanting what you are supposed to want. Like a nice clean room and delicious vegetables.
Whenever I have nothing scheduled, I often think to myself, "Yea, I get to do whatever I want!" And I translate that as doing only things that are fun in and of themselves such as eating ice cream and reading. All of a sudden, long-term goals that I also want disappear out of my head.
I just read a book on decluttering that says that sometimes there are underlying psychological issues that really should be addressed if you want your decluttering efforts to actually work. And when I read that, there was a tiny pang of fear and recognition, as if I probably have something to deal with that probably won't be any fun to deal with.
But fortunately I don't (think I) have any of the specific (often scary and deep) issues the author mentioned. However, I do feel that this whatever-I-want thing may not be working out for me the way I want. As I slowly build better neatness habits, I can see that these neatness habits don't exactly match my usual interpretation of my whatever-I-want mantra.
Examples:
* A car can stay neat if you never let crap pile up in it. After a vacation, I may not want to clear everything out the moment I arrive home. But most of the time, it's pretty easy to take a look around and make sure I'm bringing everything back in with me that I don't want to leave in the car. Doing that is not high on my list of activities I look forward to, but keeping up with it is easy, and having a nice neat car at all times is a fabulous luxury that I quite enjoy. (Note: I do not have children or pets or any other such difficulties. I am not judging you by the condition of your car.)
* Microwaves stay clean if you prevent messes as best you can and clean up messes that happen despite your best efforts right away, while it's still easy. My microwave is over 13 years old and it's still clean inside, a feat I would have thought impossible at one point. And it's been easy. I never think, "yea, I don't have any activities, so I think I'll sponge up some spilled hot chocolate." And yet, if I think of that sponging as part of the process of getting to have hot chocolate when I accidentally slam it into the edge of the microwave instead of setting it directly into the interior of the microwave, then it detracts very little from what I want to do. (Also not judging you on your microwave. There was a time I didn't even know an old microwave could be clean.)
In related news (she optimistically decides), I had the day off from work today and got a lot of stuff done. I actually attempted everything on my list, which, does that ever happen?
PT Appointment
I still think I might be able to heal my shoulder myself (there's definitely been some improvement since I got my new book), but I don't have any new ideas for my heel, so I thought I may as well make a physical therapy appointment. They did say they can focus on only one problem at a time and made me prioritize, but both are quite minor and I'm going to fill out the paperwork for both problems. Even if they don't want to go through the whole diagnosis process for both on the first day, I might talk them into doing the second one on my second appointment.
Stretches
Speaking of which, I did my stretches and exercises for these injuries. It's best to do these (and basically everything productive) before it gets to be too late at night and I get sleepy and decide it's best if I just go to bed.
Shopping
Yesterday, I found out that it's Wheatsville member appreciation week, but I didn't have enough items to want to take advantage of the (one-time) discount, so I decided to go back today when it wasn't crowded. This plan did not work: there was no parking, so I just left. Normally, Robin always wants to come shopping with me, so he is happy with this decision--we will go tomorrow evening instead. My trip was not a total waste, though, because the greenhouse effect in my car felt good and Amy's is on my way home from Wheatsville.
Ice Cream
I cashed in my coupon for one free quart of ice cream from Amy's that I got after I tried donating blood (instead of accidentally letting it expire). They have a case of pre-packed quarts that I hadn't noticed before, so I picked up a dark chocolate one. (There are signs up about donating blood, so it looks like that's still an option for those of you locals who would like to donate blood.)
Laundry Soap
For some reason, fancy environmental laundry soap is way more expensive than regular chemical-laden laundry detergent. So I often make it myself out of soap, washing soda, and borax, which are very cheap ingredients. This often is my one productive activity of the day since it requires grating a bar of laundry soap, which is not very fun. Even though I get to feel all manly when I do it.
Cook
It's good to cook something for lunches. Today I made spinach artichoke-heart pasta. And had some for lunch. And cleaned up the dishes afterwards. I love having something delicious ready to bring to work, and this has (minor amounts of) actual vegetables in it as well as pasta with fiber in it.
Bonus
I also did something not on my list, which was to go through my closet and get rid of a few things. This was not a thorough decluttering. But I did pull out a jacket that needs elbow patches. And a shirt that is too huge for me but I love the pattern so I'm going to cut quilt squares out of it. And I (over-)filled a bag with clothes that I am now admitting I will never wear and added it to my donation pile.
I also did a load of laundry. And went to the gym as usual.
I still don't quite feel like Beth from Bad Hair Days who could do an insane amount of work in one day like do eight loads of laundry, wash the dogs, sweep and mop all the floors in her large-sounding house, cook, do dishes, clean the kitchen, and I don't remember what else. Much more fun to compare myself to my usual self instead of to her, so that's what I'll do!
And now I'm done! So I can do whatever I want!
Blog of the Day
Own Your Bombness by Shola at Cubepipheny - a fun entry on New Year's resolutions, or really achieving what you want. At first it sounds like it's going to be depressing, but then the author says things like you should think of your body as "a one-in-a-billion piece of art," because that's what it is. Now that's a good mantra: "My body is a one-in-a-billion piece of art."
He also declares 2013 to be the year of the nice guy and would like us to join the revolution.