The idea of ranking things, or organizing abstract concepts in a column? Oh, man. Heaven. Like Christa, I'm a lister. My only difficulty with this assignment is that it asks what's most important and valuable--not necessarily what things get the majority of your time and attention. I realize that there are a few important things that I routinely avoid or neglect, simply because they're difficult or because I feel greedy taking the time to focus on my own personal interests. And really, how silly is that? What makes a person healthier and happier than focusing on their health and happiness? So, here's my list, as simple as I can make it.
1. Cherishing my relationship with my partner
2. Being a good mother to my son(s)
3. Improving my health (physical, mental, and emotional)
4. Improving my finances
By the way, I find it funny that we were allowed to choose 4 or 5 and everyone went for 5. ;)
Showing posts with label Day 1. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Day 1. Show all posts
Monday, August 15, 2011
Sarah, Day 1: Most Important Things
1. I want more time and experiences with my friends and family. Time shared with people I love is, unquestionably, the most important thing. In many ways I have a fractured life; I only have my kids with me half of the time and my boyfriend and family live 3 ½ hours away in another state. Often I am mentally and financially stretched out. Sometimes worry clouds me up even when I’m finally sitting next to my sweetie or cuddling my infant nephew or making dinner for my kids. There really is nothing simpler than the concept of presence, but I need to remember to be in the moment and not halfway there.
2. I want to grow my business as a Clutter Consultant/Organizer so I can help more people let go of the crap in their lives, recognize their own potential and spend more of their time doing the things that are most important to them. Everything we keep out of fear or indifference squanders resources we need for passion and purpose.
3. I need to write more. Every day. It’s been my most sacred personal gift. It makes me whole, it keeps me grounded. It scares the hell out of me. I don’t need permission, I don’t need to take a class on it, I don’t need a degree for it, I don’t even need to show it to anyone. I just need to do it.
4. I love making stuff. I’m all about unusual juxtapositions and playing with scraps and bits. I get lost in the tactile, I crack myself up at the absurd. I get lost in it and forget all about time because I’m playing and being and creating. I need to make time for that and not put it off as a meaningless distraction. I need to recognize and appreciate exactly how important it is, even if it’s “just for me”.
5. I pretty much want to hug, help and heal everybody. I keep meaning to volunteer at my local community center, so I’m guessing I should just do that. I’ve experienced amazing kindness in my own life. It’s time to give some back
P.S. - Check out another Day 1 post over at Attorney At Large!
2. I want to grow my business as a Clutter Consultant/Organizer so I can help more people let go of the crap in their lives, recognize their own potential and spend more of their time doing the things that are most important to them. Everything we keep out of fear or indifference squanders resources we need for passion and purpose.
3. I need to write more. Every day. It’s been my most sacred personal gift. It makes me whole, it keeps me grounded. It scares the hell out of me. I don’t need permission, I don’t need to take a class on it, I don’t need a degree for it, I don’t even need to show it to anyone. I just need to do it.
4. I love making stuff. I’m all about unusual juxtapositions and playing with scraps and bits. I get lost in the tactile, I crack myself up at the absurd. I get lost in it and forget all about time because I’m playing and being and creating. I need to make time for that and not put it off as a meaningless distraction. I need to recognize and appreciate exactly how important it is, even if it’s “just for me”.
5. I pretty much want to hug, help and heal everybody. I keep meaning to volunteer at my local community center, so I’m guessing I should just do that. I’ve experienced amazing kindness in my own life. It’s time to give some back
P.S. - Check out another Day 1 post over at Attorney At Large!
Valued Core
I made no preparations for this project, this exploration of self and lifestyle in order to achieve simplicity. In part because I have a tendency to put things off until the last moment. Even in college I could be found with books and articles spread around me on my bed, organized in piles of where I thought they'd be most useful, as I created the first digital page for a paper due the next day. Procrastination is a way of life for me in many ways.
The other reason I did not look over the list, or even stare at the first day's thought, so that I could have an idea ahead of time of what I wanted to say or how it could be applied to my life is because I have small two children that keep me busy. In many ways my life could be viewed as simple: I am a stay at home mother of two kids. But the reality is that I have two small children to care for, my son has been undergoing evaluation for a preschool program he'll start at the tender age of nearly 3, a house I struggle to keep some shade of tidy, a marriage I work hard to cultivate and keep healthy, friendships I try to stay connected with and a desire for professional development in the worst way. Which can be very very far from simple.
It does, however, make the first day's thought easy. For the most part.
Without repeating the question, which other contributors have provided and can be found readily here, I will share with you my list of most important people, things or ideas that will temper the remainder of this journey.
1. My Children
2. My Marriage
3. My Relationship with Others
4.Health Happiness Health
5.Success Career Happiness Feeling Accomplished.
What's interesting about this question is that the first three answers to what I value most were easy as pie. I value the people in my life. I could have simplified the list even further and just put "the people in my life" as #1, I suppose, but I'm not sure it would have made it any easier to figure out the rest of the list.
Health is something that is important to me. My physical and emotional health, although I don't necessarily tend to them as I should, are almost always on my mind for various reasons.
That last one, though, was the hardest to put into words. I desire to be successful in some way that I'm not sure I can properly define. On the surface I link this idea with work, which is why Career was the second term I considered. I am a graphic designer, work that I love and am good at although I am not currently doing much of it professionally. I am a photographer, again something I love and strive to better myself at. Currently I am exploring my lifetime love of imagination and working towards being a published author/illustrator of children's books. And yeah I hope that one of the projects I'm attached to that are out there being considered, or one of the projects I have filed away in my idea book, takes off and gets published and opens the door for further published work, but I'm not looking for fame or fortune.
When I boil it down a bit, what I am seeking is a sense of self-fulfillment. I have many dreams, many areas of interest, and I want to prosper at one of them. This isn't just defined by a professional life though, it includes being a good mother to my children and being a better gardener (the weeds are winning at present), etc.
I want, I think, to feel perfectly happy with my level of achievement with some dream instead of always feeling like I am slipping behind, not quite good enough or not even trying in the first place.
I want to feel like I have finally accomplished something.
The other reason I did not look over the list, or even stare at the first day's thought, so that I could have an idea ahead of time of what I wanted to say or how it could be applied to my life is because I have small two children that keep me busy. In many ways my life could be viewed as simple: I am a stay at home mother of two kids. But the reality is that I have two small children to care for, my son has been undergoing evaluation for a preschool program he'll start at the tender age of nearly 3, a house I struggle to keep some shade of tidy, a marriage I work hard to cultivate and keep healthy, friendships I try to stay connected with and a desire for professional development in the worst way. Which can be very very far from simple.
It does, however, make the first day's thought easy. For the most part.
Without repeating the question, which other contributors have provided and can be found readily here, I will share with you my list of most important people, things or ideas that will temper the remainder of this journey.
1. My Children
2. My Marriage
3. My Relationship with Others
4.
5.
What's interesting about this question is that the first three answers to what I value most were easy as pie. I value the people in my life. I could have simplified the list even further and just put "the people in my life" as #1, I suppose, but I'm not sure it would have made it any easier to figure out the rest of the list.
Health is something that is important to me. My physical and emotional health, although I don't necessarily tend to them as I should, are almost always on my mind for various reasons.
That last one, though, was the hardest to put into words. I desire to be successful in some way that I'm not sure I can properly define. On the surface I link this idea with work, which is why Career was the second term I considered. I am a graphic designer, work that I love and am good at although I am not currently doing much of it professionally. I am a photographer, again something I love and strive to better myself at. Currently I am exploring my lifetime love of imagination and working towards being a published author/illustrator of children's books. And yeah I hope that one of the projects I'm attached to that are out there being considered, or one of the projects I have filed away in my idea book, takes off and gets published and opens the door for further published work, but I'm not looking for fame or fortune.
When I boil it down a bit, what I am seeking is a sense of self-fulfillment. I have many dreams, many areas of interest, and I want to prosper at one of them. This isn't just defined by a professional life though, it includes being a good mother to my children and being a better gardener (the weeds are winning at present), etc.
I want, I think, to feel perfectly happy with my level of achievement with some dream instead of always feeling like I am slipping behind, not quite good enough or not even trying in the first place.
I want to feel like I have finally accomplished something.
Christa, Day 1: Make a list of your top 4-5 important things.
Oh my gosh, it is day ONE of the 72 Ideas in 72 Days Project and I am very, very excited. Possibly because today's idea is an easy one as it's more reflective than anything else:
I am by nature a listmaker, so I've been chomping at the bit to get this one done and more than a little weekend brainpower was wasted - productively utilized? - thinking about this. Because I get it. Most of us have a tendency to get mired in things that don't really matter or if they matter a little, for instance keeping things neat and tidy, they don't go very far toward contributing to those four or five important things.
Of course, when I was mulling item one over, I got all caught up in headspace semantics. Are we talking personal or professional? Can I make two lists, one for each? What about pie in the sky dreams that I ought to be actively working toward - do those count? But hello, the whole point of this project is SIMPLICITY. To distill things down to manageable levels and then pure essence, so I'm pretty sure I'm already failing a little bit and it's only the first day!
Oops?
With that in mind, I'm challenging myself to jot down five items right now. First thing that comes to mind instead of something super polished and well thought out. This is an exercise to get us thinking, sure, but my tendency is to overthink and to very carefully position myself in an appealing way. Maybe through this project I'll discover that what I want out of life and how I want to live does not have mass appeal, and that's okay. I'm 31 years old, hey, so I think I can deal with that.
My list:
1. Spending as much quality time with my daughter and also my husband as I can.
2. Doing more of the things that make me happy, which is sometimes actually work and sometimes messing around with cloth or painting my furniture.
3. Having enough money and resources to feel secure.
4. Enjoying the pleasures of being alive, like eating good food or sitting in the sun and getting lots of fresh air and exercise.
5. Finding contentment in what I am doing and distancing myself from the stuff that gets in the way of contentment.
P.S. - Check out Amy's Day 1 post over at her blog Vegparadise, and Lella's intro blog over at 31 and holding!
Make a list of your top 4-5 important things. What’s most important to you? What do you value most? What 4-5 things do you most want to do in your life? Simplifying starts with these priorities, as you are trying to make room in your life so you have more time for these things.
I am by nature a listmaker, so I've been chomping at the bit to get this one done and more than a little weekend brainpower was wasted - productively utilized? - thinking about this. Because I get it. Most of us have a tendency to get mired in things that don't really matter or if they matter a little, for instance keeping things neat and tidy, they don't go very far toward contributing to those four or five important things.
Of course, when I was mulling item one over, I got all caught up in headspace semantics. Are we talking personal or professional? Can I make two lists, one for each? What about pie in the sky dreams that I ought to be actively working toward - do those count? But hello, the whole point of this project is SIMPLICITY. To distill things down to manageable levels and then pure essence, so I'm pretty sure I'm already failing a little bit and it's only the first day!
Oops?
With that in mind, I'm challenging myself to jot down five items right now. First thing that comes to mind instead of something super polished and well thought out. This is an exercise to get us thinking, sure, but my tendency is to overthink and to very carefully position myself in an appealing way. Maybe through this project I'll discover that what I want out of life and how I want to live does not have mass appeal, and that's okay. I'm 31 years old, hey, so I think I can deal with that.
My list:
1. Spending as much quality time with my daughter and also my husband as I can.
2. Doing more of the things that make me happy, which is sometimes actually work and sometimes messing around with cloth or painting my furniture.
3. Having enough money and resources to feel secure.
4. Enjoying the pleasures of being alive, like eating good food or sitting in the sun and getting lots of fresh air and exercise.
5. Finding contentment in what I am doing and distancing myself from the stuff that gets in the way of contentment.
P.S. - Check out Amy's Day 1 post over at her blog Vegparadise, and Lella's intro blog over at 31 and holding!
Rebecca, Day 1: Taking Stock
72 Ideas in 72 Days? I'm up for a challenge! Count me in.
Day 1: My 4-5 most important things. Okay, let's see. I'd say my priorities have been clear for some time, especially following my son's birth in 2008. Having a child forced me to prioritize how I spend my time. Let's have a look at my bios on facebook and twitter; they're little lists.
Day 1: My 4-5 most important things. Okay, let's see. I'd say my priorities have been clear for some time, especially following my son's birth in 2008. Having a child forced me to prioritize how I spend my time. Let's have a look at my bios on facebook and twitter; they're little lists.
- From facebook: "She sings, she writes, she crafts things." (That's my riff on Jason Mraz.)
- From twitter: "Professor. Singer. Writer. Mom."
Family (particularly spending quality time with my toddler) and close friends.
- Writing--academic writing, to be exact, which involves reading and research.
- Teaching. I'm so glad I work at a teaching university, where our class sizes are small and I can enjoy working closely with my students.
- Singing. I'm a classical singer; music is really important to me.
- Crafting, which I readily abandon when 1-4 don't leave me any time to spare. My craftiness is always changing, e.g., from crochet to knitting to cross-stitching to needlepoint. This summer, it's taken the form of a lot of canning (mostly with friends--see #1, above).
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