Day #2 Grab Your Calendar! (And an eraser)

It’s quite comical that one of the themes of this month’s writing challenge is joy when the second day of my favorite month was 104 degrees! That’s right. One hundred and freakin’ four degress. Excuse the language; but I’m in a bit of a heat induced tizzy.

It is challenging to be joyful when you are a delicate hot house flower (That’s me. I’m the flower.) and it feels hotter than hell’s front porch outside. Come on! This is not, I repeat not, pumpkin patch weather.

Yet, joy is to be found. That’s why I’m writing this post at 8:30 at night, outside, in my back yard where it feels much cooler and I’m much less complainy.

Ok, let’s move on and focus on the word “unhurried” which I believe can lead to joy. When I think of hurry and stress, I think busy.

I am busy. I know; big surprise.

New flash: We are all busy. Ok, most of us are busy. If you have a job and have other people that depend on you for anything in any way, you are busy. I’m not going to list all the things that make me busy because I’m sure you can write the same, if not longer list.

Here’s the fact we can’t get around, circumvent or manipulate: time. You have a certain amount of hours in your day. If you fill that little box in your planner (or slot on your digital calendar) with more things than you can possibly accomplish, you won’t just be busy. Eventually you will be miserable. You will be cranky, not a present friend, a short- tempered mom, or a sleep deprived zombie with a severe eye twitch who somehow finds themselves on one of those Instagram pages dedicated to Karens.

You don’t want that. Do you?

So right now, go take an eraser (pencil or whiteboard or your index finger for the 98% of you who keep your calendar on your phone) and erase something off your to-do list for the week. Just do it. No one will die, the world will keep spinning on it’s axis, your kids will survive, they will figure it out.

My life is not about relaxing right now. I can most definitely have relaxing moments and stretches of time. But the reality is that I’m a mom with kids, soccer practices, tutoring sessions, homeschooling, a husband who works long shifts, and apparently everyone wants to eat at least 3 meals a day and wear clean clothes. Also, I have a 16 year old who is now learning to drive my car. Feeling relaxed is not on the table. right now.

We have to do less. We just have to. We can’t fill every moment of every day. We have to get out that eraser and be ruthless, at least just a little bit. In other words, let’s see some white space on that calendar.

You can read the first post in my self-imposed 31 Day Writing Challenge here