I can apply that statement to everything.
So many little markers throughout the year, and life really. They’re like a million opportunities for New Year’s like resolutions. This month I’m going to buckle down and get this project finished. Next month I’m going to sit down and write some real actionable goals. I’m not really a big New Year’s resolution-y person but I think there can be great value in sitting down and taking stock of your life-where you are, where you want to be, how to get there-and trying to make changes that move you toward who you want to be. I also think that often the biggest life movements actually happen in the tiniest steps.
This post was drafted the day before my birthday as I sat looking out at another year of life and another summer to try and do all the things outside and in and home remodeling. It’s jarring to say but four years ago when I put the first (and only published) post on this blog we had just purchased new flooring for our home. It has been installed in 50% of the intended rooms. To quote myself in the DIY version of Give A Mouse A Cookie ” while we’re working on this, we really ought to do that as well since we’re tearing apart this room anyway.” In case you’re curious, we did refinish the bedroom walls before we put down the flooring. This has happened in each of the rooms-this before that before flooring. Anyway, I sat at the beginning of this summer thinking up all the things that need to get wrapped up or started around here and now I find myself at the end of summer watching everyone lose their minds (good or bad) about spiced everything once again. I thought we’d have enough time. Where did it go?
Time and I we have wrestled for as long as I can remember anything. Rarely do I come out on top. Mostly I fight to stay down but not out of the game. Time management is a thing all the rage-from schedules and planners to some absolutely glorious Bullet Journals we as a people seem to devote quite a lot of our life energy to the management of the invisible. You can’t go anywhere online without bumping into an article on how to use your time wisely, cram more in less or simplify your days. This is not one of those posts. Simply an acknowledgement that most of us seem to struggle in this area and think that time marches on a bit faster than any of us would like.
While it seems that not a fraction of what we wanted to do this summer even got started, a healthy look back does reveal we got quite a bit worked on. I may not have succeeded in keeping up with a time management plan and fancy planner every week, but I did procrastinate less, focus more (Rachel I hear you laughing at me, stop it) and was generally more productive more days than the previous few months. So while it is a work in progress, it is progress.
Since I don’t yet have any photos of the planner I designed, I’ll leave you with one photo of the living room remodel. Here is my husband preparing the ceiling for the new boards and insulation. Maybe I’ll make a new post with some of the other photos and details of that project.
Giving thanks for the skill and strength to do these projects mostly on our own as well as for the enormous resources available to us through the family members who do construction as their profession.
