Finish one thing.
December 15, 2008
A wise man (a real man, he was one of my professors) once told me: “Finish one thing. Then finish another. You will gain energy in the finishing.”
I needed this yesterday, after a whirlwind three and a half days of packing, driving, visiting, trading presents, and more presents and visiting, repacking, and driving home. At our last stop (in addition to the kid presents) we received several armloads of a wardrobe for our 2-year-old, which started out in a nice big box but could fit only if the contents were dumped over all of the other present loot. This was a rented vehicle, mind you, so it had to be emptied yesterday. With all of the excitement and driving and odd eating habits, Kate was not feeling well and I spent the last three hours of the drive praying that she would not be sick in this rental all over our stuff. She made it home and seemed to mend from a magic formula of loose PJs, a movie, and, later on, some bland oatmeal, but the stress of worrying that she MIGHT be sick was exhausting for me.
“Finish one thing” drove me to empty the car, put away laundry, put away the clean dishes waiting for our return, put away the snacks we had dragged 5 hours south and east and back again, put away the toys we’d brought as diversions (before we got the slew of new toys). I managed to gather up the pieces of an outfit to wear today, set up the coffeemaker, set my alarm, and NOT check e-mail. One at a time, item by item, bird by bird (love that Anne Lamott!).
I thought it would be OK if I got that far. I thought that all I needed was a plan for dinner and a start on the kids’ lunches. And yet…today…my head is like the inside of a snow globe. All the work to-dos, swirling around, and I can’t quite catch one individual flake to finish one thing. I try to catch one, and I end up swirling around all the rest. Breathe, focus, reach up one hand to catch a flake…swirl them all around again. I wrote out a list of priorities before I left on Thursday and sent it to myself in e-mail. The letters are Greek. I can’t break down the tasks into the next step. Reach, focus, almost catch the flake…swirl. Finish one post. Stop. Then finish one more thing.
