Ring In The New
I don't make resolutions anymore. Making grandiose promises of change to myself has never worked out. I've learned to make adjustments in life gradually as the need arises.
However, I will sit down at the beginning of a new year and reflect back over the past twelve months. See if I missed anything along the way. I like to ponder the good things in my family's life and make mental notes to have more of that sort of thing in the new year. And, of course, think of ways to avoid the mistakes that were made.
As I ponder and reflect about 2006, there's one thing that jumps out at me that I need to deal with. Actually, it jumped out at me from my email in-box, which has a backlog of old mail messages that I never seem to find the time to deal with.
The emails all concern extracurricular blog and web projects which I have been asked, or invited, or even volunteered, to help out with. I rarely said no to any of them, but made promises to get around to it when I could. And now I'm realizing that my eyes were bigger than my stomach, so to speak.
I feel conflicted about some of these groups, as I really wanted to be involved. Especially sites like Dad Daily and INWBA. I like what these sites are all about, and I know I have something to offer to them.
But something unexpected happened. I started homeschooling my son in September. What took me somewhat by surprise was the amount of time and attention this would take, not just during the day but also well into the evening. I was quickly forced to figure out my priorities.
I have a scarce few hours late in the evening, at the end of a long day when my mind is tired and I do not always have the energy to focus on much besides quickly reading parenting blogs and then tapping out a post for my own blog and hoping that it makes some kind of sense.
It took me about six months to finally accept the fact that I'm not going to be able to realistically participate in all the things I want to do. So, to conclude a process of elimination that I began last September, I'm burying my blog-optimism and deleting all of those old emails. And I'm deleting a good number of links to sites that require more activity that I have time for.
I'm saving one, though... I love Flickr, and keeping up with my contacts' photos makes me a better photographer. For that site, I'll try to practice a little self-restraint and not spend hours and hours browsing through beautiful photos.
One thing that doesn't need to change is my blog-reading. I've been using Google Reader for about six months and have become quite adept at speed-reading through 100 posts in about ten minutes. From my fellow mom and dad bloggers to the North Idaho crew, there are so many great writers out there. I learn a lot from all of you. And I laugh a lot too.
If there were as many hours in the day as I had interests in my head, my day would easily be 1000 hours long. But it's not, so I'm making hard decisions on where and how to cut back on my free-time activities.
Now I need to spend the rest of the evening making preparations for tomorrow's return to homeschooling. Shaking off the holiday break is going to be tough.
However, I will sit down at the beginning of a new year and reflect back over the past twelve months. See if I missed anything along the way. I like to ponder the good things in my family's life and make mental notes to have more of that sort of thing in the new year. And, of course, think of ways to avoid the mistakes that were made.
As I ponder and reflect about 2006, there's one thing that jumps out at me that I need to deal with. Actually, it jumped out at me from my email in-box, which has a backlog of old mail messages that I never seem to find the time to deal with.
The emails all concern extracurricular blog and web projects which I have been asked, or invited, or even volunteered, to help out with. I rarely said no to any of them, but made promises to get around to it when I could. And now I'm realizing that my eyes were bigger than my stomach, so to speak.
I feel conflicted about some of these groups, as I really wanted to be involved. Especially sites like Dad Daily and INWBA. I like what these sites are all about, and I know I have something to offer to them.
But something unexpected happened. I started homeschooling my son in September. What took me somewhat by surprise was the amount of time and attention this would take, not just during the day but also well into the evening. I was quickly forced to figure out my priorities.
I have a scarce few hours late in the evening, at the end of a long day when my mind is tired and I do not always have the energy to focus on much besides quickly reading parenting blogs and then tapping out a post for my own blog and hoping that it makes some kind of sense.
It took me about six months to finally accept the fact that I'm not going to be able to realistically participate in all the things I want to do. So, to conclude a process of elimination that I began last September, I'm burying my blog-optimism and deleting all of those old emails. And I'm deleting a good number of links to sites that require more activity that I have time for.
I'm saving one, though... I love Flickr, and keeping up with my contacts' photos makes me a better photographer. For that site, I'll try to practice a little self-restraint and not spend hours and hours browsing through beautiful photos.
One thing that doesn't need to change is my blog-reading. I've been using Google Reader for about six months and have become quite adept at speed-reading through 100 posts in about ten minutes. From my fellow mom and dad bloggers to the North Idaho crew, there are so many great writers out there. I learn a lot from all of you. And I laugh a lot too.
If there were as many hours in the day as I had interests in my head, my day would easily be 1000 hours long. But it's not, so I'm making hard decisions on where and how to cut back on my free-time activities.
Now I need to spend the rest of the evening making preparations for tomorrow's return to homeschooling. Shaking off the holiday break is going to be tough.
Permalink posted by Idaho Dad at 9:14 PM
3 Comments:
I'm with you. I've usually got 40 things being juggled at once and it's hard to say no. When I added the blog to my list of things to do, I figured it wouldn't be too much of a problem. So far, 100 posts later, it hasn't been too bad. But if I was asked to do anything more, I'd have to turn it down. It's hard to say no, but sometimes you gotta.
Hope you can still find time for your blog...As a stay-at-home mom, I enjoy your writing and humor--and I learn a lot too!
Hey Phil, how do you use Google Reader to peruse so many blogs in such a short time?
That sounds like a helpful skill to
develop!
Thanks!
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