Summer is on it's way, and I am so excited to not have the typical school schedule for my kids. I happily stop making lunches the day before, we eat dinner when we want, and bedtime becomes more of a suggestion. We have a few organized weeks of summer camps, but the rest is pretty relaxed. I only work a few days a week right now and my kids can come with me or go to friends, so I have the luxury of not needing to over-plan. Summer for me is mix of some schedule and much more wait-and-see adventures. I know that for some people the last part is not enjoyable, but there are pros and cons to not having a plan all the time.
When we leave the house as a family, most of the time, I grab water bottles, food, sunscreen and whatever supplies we need for the day. When my children were small, I always had spare clothes, and diapers in the car. I still carry wipes with me, now used for sticky ice cream hands more than anything, but I have them if we need them. This weekend though, we all left the house, drove all the way to ride ATVs for my husband's birthday, and when we got there, it was so windy. I looked around the car but I didn't have any sweatshirts for us. Knowing the ride would have been miserable in the wind and cold we drove all the way back to the house and got them. Either I was in vacation mode, and so I was more lax in my parenting preparedness, or my kids are getting older and so I feel less responsible for their wardrobe. I think it was the former though, because I too walked out without a sweatshirt.
A friend of mine once told me that lazy people are actually among the best people to hire. He was lazy and so he always was careful with how he spent his time. He was effective and efficient because he didn't want to waste any extra time if he didn't have to. Now, lazy and unprepared are two very different things, but I wonder where I land between those two sometimes. Admittedly, I do not like sitting still very long, so I do not think I am lazy, but I do know how to procrastinate quite well. I don't enjoy sitting down to a pile of work, and yet I don't like avoiding it too long either. When I think about my work ethic, and what I will do as my children get older, I have trouble picking a lane. I love so many things, and yet some of those I love don't make great careers. Then I have some things that I do well, but don't love, and those do make great careers. When I sit with that, I end up sitting in neutral, and sitting isn't great for someone always on the go.
Looking at what I prepare for and what I actually move on, has been interesting. I don't think I have any one consistent pattern with this, and that is probably why I have so many new things I would like to try. I will pick a direction at some point, but for summer I am steering clear of drawing any lines in the sand — unless they are made with a sand bucket and shovel, since we will definitely be going to the beach this summer. There is no dragging my feet to go there.
No comments:
Post a Comment