The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.- Robert Burns
The schedule went way off the rails on Friday. Perhaps it's because it isn't really written down anywhere. It's more of a mental list of the whens, whats and hows. Either way, I came to terms with it and moved onward. It's about being flexible and learning to roll with the punches so to speak.
I have been pondering whether or not to write out a formal website and blog schedule. I always hesitate, given that, once anything is in pen and a date has been committed to, I feel compelled to make sure it publishes on that exact date. Being a mom means that there are no exact anythings some weeks. The only thing you can count on is that you will be adapting in one form or another to a change somewhere in the schedule.
Friday came and I had all the intentions of sitting down to write my weekend update post. We started off on a good foot, but somewhere partway in, my son asked about the upcoming week's schedule and shouldn't we be factoring in a shorter week due to Halloween festivities. His solution was that he would get extra math studies out of the way. Now it's not a common thing in our household for either him or me to be enthusiastic about math. Also, we were in the point of the lessons which required me to teach rather than for him to have a few extra practice problems. I didn't want to curb his enthusiasm for his schoolwork that day and so, the first adjustment of the schedule occurred.
Saturday morning came along. We slept in a bit and then sat around on the couch. Sometimes it's important to veg out a bit after a long week. At some point, we decided to pop out for lunch since it was a lovely day. I took the liberty of playing photographer. We looked at some birds and some boats and by the time we got back home, we had decided to play a video game together. It's a family affair. Once again, I pushed writing the post off.
Sunday came with a repetition of sleeping in and lounging. Somewhere partway through the day, we decided to hop in the car and drive to the grocery store across the other side of the island. My Husband took the scenic route which provided the opportunity to practice shooting pictures from a moving car. Nothing too exciting, but a nice opportunity to just look around and chat. Sunday slipped away and still I hadn't written the post.
Now it's Monday. I could I guess beat myself up for not staying on the allotted schedule. I see people do this all of the time. Not just with blogs, but with photos to scrap or activities to do as a family. Whatever it is, suddenly, it becomes too much and the ability to adapt is replaced with the paralysis of what what has not been done.
Today is all about avoiding the paralysis. Instead of a to do list I have written a
what I have done list. It changes my perspective and now that it's written, I can adapt my what I want to do list. Because when it really comes down to it, we all know the
what you need to do and
what you want to do lists will always have new items added to the bottom.
Additional Resources
Fitting it all in- a post series by Ashli Oliver at the Purple Mailbox about how she manages her time as a crafty mom
Things You Might have Missed Last Week
Exercise 2: A Quick Grid Layout
The Scientific Method: Stamping on Cellophane
He Loved this Song: Tips for documenting a lost loved one
