The battle is on! Is it Spring or Winter? Do you need a coat, a jacket, or short sleeves? Is it rainy but warm or rainy and cold? Should we have soup for dinner or a cold pasta salad?
This time of year is so exciting. All the buds are popping out on the trees, flowers are blooming, grass is turning green again, Summer is just around the corner. But is it Spring today, or really pretty Wintry? It seems it changes from minute to minute. On the Spring days we go outside and play, and then I come back inside and am all motivated to clean out this room, or organize that closet. I am all excited to start gardening and see if I can improve our already beautiful landscaping. ... And then there's a cold, rainy, windy, wintry day. Like today. And I feel sad and mopey. I haven't done a dish all day - which means the sink is full. I haven't done a load of laundry all day - which means there's stuff in the washer starting to stink. I haven't planned dinner - which means we'll have a frozen pizza or plain pasta for dinner. Blah.
I know I shouldn't let little things like the weather affect me - and it doesn't really. It's just an excuse, I guess. Or lack of a motivator, maybe. What other things do we let derail our days? As a mother, particularly a stay-at-home mother, it's hard to maintain a strong level of self-discipline every day. Some days I do the laundry, the dishes, play with the kids, and organize a closet all in one day - which I conside a great success. Some days I consider it a success that I unloaded the dishwasher. I imagine it's the same for people at work out of the home, too - you aren't super-productive and efficient every day. So what do you do to get yourself out of a rut? What motivators work for you and what downers drag you into non-productivity? Share with me. Maybe it'll motivate me to make something real for dinner today. Or at least tomorrow.
*****UPDATE 3 hours later*****
I thought I'd post these pictures as proof that I did eventually get off my duff and make a nice dinner and do some laundry. Apparently, one of the things that motivates me is blogging about how unmotivated I am.
**notice the great little table in my laundry room - Richard just hung that for me.**
4 comments:
exercising, which should be happening daily, is my day killer, it makes me sore in body, mind, and spirit...yet it should be done. I find that TV for 5-30 minutes and an Advil help me recoop. But I do have a long standing understanding that I can make cold cereal for dinner once a week. That makes life better, even on the bleak days.
Blogging does help motivation sometimes...exercising definitely does, if you can get motivated to do THAT! Sometimes getting away to a bookstore and just browsing for a little while does it for me. I get rejuvenated there.
I love your post (and the picture) because it so accurately describes the seasons right now, where we're kind of stuck between seasons. :o)
You have adorable children!
Nancy,
I love this post! Living in Australia, I am experiencing backwards seasons this year, and this week has been a battle between miserable hot summer and (finally!) autumn. This week, on the very hot, no clouds, ultra-sunny (40 degrees C, which I think is 95+ F) day (Tuesday) we stayed inside with the blinds closed and sat in front of the fan doing not much. On the much more bearable cloudy, cooler breezy day (about 20 degrees C, which I think is about 65 F) we went outside for a pleasant autumn walk and felt like getting things done. Interesting that the seasons give me an internal battle just like they do for you. I guess seasons are only three months because we get so sick of them....Rebecca (your cousin)
I find sitting down in front of the TV for ten minutes helps. I only get two channels - Fox and NBC - and there is never anything decent on. So I watch for ten or twenty minutes until it just makes me sick how horrible TV is these days and its a great motivator to do something worthwhile.
Turning on an episode of Gilmore Girls on DVD, however, has quite the opposite effect. I can hardly ever just watch one!
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