It’s a typical Tuesday here. There is just enough snow on the ground to remind you that it’s winter (although it should melt by the end of the day) and so far there have been at least two kitty dust-ups. Both were playful but one resulted in a missing collar and the other sent a cat to the basement. The cats all have automatic feeders with RFID tags on their collars to open them. A missing collar, therefore, needs to be located (it was by the ottoman in the living room) and replaced before anyone gets hungry. The other dustup was just too much chaos and Meadow insisted on going to the basement. Not sure what she really does down there – we gave her a bed and a litter box so she can work things out on her own. We get it. Sometimes, you just have to be on your own without brothers to contend with.
Today’s adventures in either boredom or simplicity – depending on your perspective – is a little bit of work, some laundry, dinner and a yoga class. Since I typically try to plan ahead for 3-4 meals at a time, tonight’s menu has already been determined, supplies purchased and essentially just needs to be prepared. How incredibly routine is that?
And yet… .
That’s what I love. The simplicity of life around here is what makes it my best life. It’s calm and quiet. There is room to think and room to just be. After a life lived with so much crazy and so much stimulation all of the time, time to think is incredibly precious.
It occurs to me that recently I had lost the simplicity in the rush back to work after the holidays. While the world was ready for the return-to-work routine, I wasn’t. And when I’m not, well, I don’t have a plan. But slowly, as I’ve trod my way back to a good place these days, the plan has formed, in no small part due to my boss who reminded me that I’m the one who chooses to work those extra hours. It wasn’t much of a leap from there to realize that I – as much as I love simple peace – am the one who invites in the chaos.
And so, the plan. A lot of it is mental. I am – first and foremost – chief operating officer of this little family. Things run smoothly because I plan, I get out in front of any possible situation and I make this little family run. I love that job! And the more I give myself the time and energy to focus on that job, the happier I am. It’s simply how I work.
But, I also need to work and that’s where I can lose focus. As a responsibility junkie, I tend to take on more than I should, ignore my own boundaries and generally take a not-so-familiar “squirrel” approach to work. No, it’s not that I get distracted any time anyone says, “squirrel.” Instead, I keep gathering more and more nuts for more and more rainy days until I’ve got hordes of nuts stored all over the place and I drive myself nuts trying to keep them all safe. Time, it would appear, to be less frantic about work.
Being less frantic will allow me to usher in boundaries that I’ve attempted to use before but perhaps with greater clarity from the last few weeks of painful frustration and rediscovery. First, I work 9-3 just four days per week. If I need to work outside of those times, I swap in “home time” during my work time in an even-even split. Take today. I have a 4-5 p.m. meeting. I’ll be finishing my day at 2 p.m. today instead of 3 p.m. to make room for the later meeting. I also don’t work on Fridays. That’s a hard-and-fast rule that I’m generally good about not breaking – until I’m not. But now? No, I don’t work Fridays.
And the biggest of them all: I confine my nonbillable work to those things that I need to do and eliminate some of the excess. That’s my true Achilles’ heel. Every time someone needs just a little favor, I say yes. And by saying yes all of the time, I allow work to spread into my home time all of the time. Yes, what I’m talking about is a form of quiet quitting, but it’s a necessary one. People who work part-time have made a conscious choice to sacrifice salary for time. When you still give up the time, you cheat all around you.
That brings me back full circle to where this post started: a typical Tuesday. Tuesdays in winter on our little farm will hopefully some day be about winter rest. But these days? Tuesday is about working around the last big renovation project to make home feel comfortable. At the same time, there’s laundry to be done, cats to care for and dinner to get out of the freezer so it can be prepared in time. This Tuesday also includes a yoga class and potentially a glass of wine with the hubby this evening, sharing our days and simply relaxing.
Life, it appears, does not need to be complicated. Life is the easy part. It’s all of the distractions that are the problem.
The Yuppie Homesteader 