Sometimes you just have to do what you have time to do, and not stress about it.
I was feeling pretty lousy about my time-management and productivity last Monday. I went into work (after oversleeping, being five minutes late, and just generally feeling like I seriously needed to get my act together) at the drop-in center. Surprisingly, I had a really good/random attitude going on. I started verbalizing my thoughts to the kids: "Hey kids, Miss Ruth needs help getting her life together. I need a life coach. Any takers?" Since the majority of the kids were under the age of five, no one really had the slightest clue what I was talking about. That's okay, because I'm pretty sure I didn't have a clue what I was talking about, either.
Since no one immediately volunteered, I turned to the youngest kid there, a 23 month old boy. "Hey *insert child's name here*, would you like to be my life coach?"
He kind of babbled a little and squealed. I took that as a "Yes."
So I shook the kid's hand and said, "Okay, Coach. Tell me how to get my life together."
The kid laughed, ran away, climbed up the slide, and went into the play tunnel.
I shrugged and climbed up the slide to join him.
Now, I've been working at that particular drop-in center for more than six years. In those six years, I've probably only been inside that tunnel six times--like maybe once a year--and five of those times I only went in the tunnel because there was some screaming child who refused to get out of it and needed me to go in after him/her. The tunnel is dark and scary, and although we sanitize it every night, my brain still tells me that is infested with "khe cooties." But Coach showed me it was time to just forget the "kid cooties," drop my serious attitude, and go ahead and climb inside the tunnel. So I did.
Two years ago, I would have probably been too fat to be comfortable inside the tunnel. But I'm sixty pounds lighter now than I was then, so the tunnel didn't seem as cramped as it did in years past. And I followed Coach all the way through the play tunnel, laughing at the absurdity of it all, laughing because Coach taught me something important:
Don't worry. Stop stressing. Just go with it. Laugh. Have fun. You can't control everything, so just do what you can and enjoy LIFE.
Then, after our romp through the play tunnel, Coach pointed the the floor. I interpreted this to mean that he wanted me to "drop and give him 20." I dropped and gave him...4. Well, it was more like 3 and a half. He laughed at me. 23 months old and he was laughing at my feeble attempt to do push-ups.
And I didn't just make that last part up. The other grown-up there saw the whole thing.
...she laughed at me, too.
So, yeah. This week? Did I get all the grown up stuff done that I was supposed to get done? No. In fact, I consider it a huge accomplishment that I remembered to get new stickers and registration for my license plate this week. That was my grown-up accomplishment for the week. Getting my car legal. The rest? I worked a lot. I ran a lot. I tried to get to bed on time. I tried to wake up and get to work on time. And if I managed to get anything done between those things, then, well, that was pretty good for me. Honestly, sometimes you just have to let things go and trust that God's going to provide. It's all about balance. Have I ever mentioned here that I'm not very good at that?
This next week shouldn't be quite so busy, though...so while it's good not to worry, it's also good to be responsible.
--I do hope to get this job application DONE this week. That's my goal. I need to set a deadline if it's going to happen.
--I want to actually look at some of my writing and at least make some plans for what I want to do with it--nothing major. I just want to get some ideas flowing for when I have more time to devote to it.
--I want to run 10 miles in preparation for my half-marathon. I now know I can do it because I did it. I ran over the required 13.1 miles. And astonishingly, I ran it in the time I hoped to run it. The day of the race, I'm kind of hoping for a better time, but there are so many variables. The climate will be a little different since it's in a different state--but I'm hoping it will be cooler since it's further north. I'm running around a reservoir, so I'm hoping it won't be too humid. I'm really hoping it doesn't rain, although that would be better than scorching heat/sunshine--which probably won't be the case since it starts at 7 in the morning. Also, I'm not sure about the hills on the course--as much as I hate hills, my legs hate them even more. People say that adrenaline will kick in the day of the race, so I should be able to run faster, but from my past experiences, that's probably not going to be the case. Honestly, I will be happy if I finish under 3 hours, but I'm hoping for under 2:45. Okay, so I'm hoping for under 2:40, but we'll see what happens. Just the fact that I'm doing this is still pretty miraculous. God has just amazed me in the past year--how He's changed my mind and body. It's incredible.
--I want to reread a book for a review. We'll see what happens. I'm hoping to do a few book reviews in the next few weeks--these aren't for books that I've been asked to review. I just like doing it--letting other readers know what's out there. If you have friends that read a lot and are looking for new stuff to read, be sure to direct them to my blog.
--I need to figure out my living situation. Like, now. I think I'm in denial that my roommate is moving, and that I will probably have to move, as well. I don't like being a grown-up. Sometimes, it's fun to crawl through tunnels and not have to worry about stuff, but I think that even Coach would agree that sometimes grown-ups have to be grown-ups.
...he probably also agrees that it's pretty pathetic that I can only do 4 push-ups.
Okay, okay...so it was more like 3 and a half.
Happy Monday Funday!
I don't like being a grown up either!
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