A New Year's Message
January 2005
A
message from your editor:
Those
who know me personally know that I am a "rah rah"
person - a Pollyanna - I always go for the positive
in every situation. As I leap into 2005,
I will attempt to find the positive in my
hectic
and
overwhelming
December
2004.
Not
that December was a "bad" month - I guess it was
just depressing in a stressed out, not meeting
my expectations sort of way. George (my husband)
knows better than anyone how much I
over commit myself. I love my work, I love the volunteer
projects I work on, I love doing interviews for NewHopePennsylvania.com,
I love my ceramics class, I love the
people in the New Hope and Lambertville area, I love
people in general! In fact, I love everything and
everyone so much, I want
TO
DO
IT
ALL - all the
time.
Heavy
sigh!
Then,
after making these commitments, I get stuck staying
up late
at night or ALL night so I can get everything
done. (Pulling all-nighters was easy when I was
in college,
not so easy 30 years later!)
After
Christmas last year
I took a pen and X'd off the entire week before Christmas
2004 and wrote in "cooking
and baking." I envisioned myself wrapped in a Betty
Crocker apron merrily baking and decorating cookies,
preparing holiday dinners waaaay in advance, wrapping
gifts with elegant ribbons and bows, and all the
while playing
Christmas
carols and singing along.
So, did
I cook
and
bake the week of Dec 20th? Yes, I did.
AND,
I worked on business AND I attended meetings AND
I bought
last minute
gifts
AND I
fit in
just about everything else I remembered needed
to be done
before the end of the year! Was
it relaxing? Far from it.
I'm
sure you all know about the rocks
in the jar story? (If not, I copied it for you
below.) In 2004 I left a lot of my big rocks sit
outside the jar.
2005
will be different...
I
don't normally make New Year's resolutions but this
year I am making an exception. (These resolutions
are written in present tense because it makes
the statements much more powerful - as if I am already
doing them:)
- I
am only accepting responsibilities that I want
to do and know I can do well
- I
am
budgeting
my time effectively to make room for my
priorities (the big rocks)
- I
am
doing things in life I need
to do to sustain my body, mind, and soul
- I
am fully appreciating and enjoying my free
time - living in the
"present"
with whatever I do
My
"big rocks" list is tacked to my bulletin board and
I will refer to it as I plan my schedule
each day. My priority list is attached to my bathroom
mirror so I have to look at it at least once every
day.
Whew! The
"good" that has come out of my hectic December is
that I am creating a new way of living for me that
is more fulfilling and more enjoyable. Stayed tuned
'til next
January to find out how well I did!
Rah!
Rah!
PS
This
is the first month since September 2000 that
I have taken a month off and not written any
articles for FACES & PLACES. The good news is
that I am not feeling particularly guilty about it.
In fact,
I have decided that every January there won't be
a FACES & PLACES. I get a month off every year!
How cool is that! _________________
Rocks
in a Jar A
time management expert addressed a group of business
students. He pulled out a one-gallon
Mason
jar and
set it one the table. Then he produced a dozen fist-sized
rocks and placed them into the jar. Then he asked, "Is
this jar full?"
Everyone
said yes.
Then
he reached under the table and pulled out a bucket
of gravel.
He dumped it in
and shook the jar. He asked, "Is the jar
full?"
By
this time the class was on to him. "Probably
not," one student answered.
Then
the instructor reached under the table and grabbed
a bucket
of sand. He dumped the sand, which went into
all the places
between the rocks and the gravel. He asked, "Is
this jar full?"
"
No!" the class shouted.
Next
he grabbed a pitcher of water and poured it into
the jar until the jar was
filled to
the brim. "What
is the point of this illustration?" he
asked.
One
student offered, "No matter
how full your schedule is you can always
fit some more things into
it!"
" No," the
speaker replied. "The truth
this illustration teaches us is:
if you
don't put the big rocks in first,
you'll never get them in."
Ask
yourself, "What are the 'big
rocks' in my life?" Put those
in your jar first. |
