In the moments between awesome new fall episodes of tawdry television shows, I am, in fact, trying to figure out what to do with myself. Well-meaning, and possibly envious, friends have asked what I do with all this time I've got now, and I should probably have a better answer than "Oh, you know. Whatever." So, I'm working on what it is I want to do. If not during My Whole Entire Life Oh My God, at least during each week. And I realized that what I really need is a schedule.
I was talking with my mom about this just the other day (hi, Mom!). Interestingly, even though we're at very different points in our lives, we both are finding ourselves with lots of time on our hands, and struggling with it a bit. I'm not complaining, truly I'm not. Having this much time is a gift, and I'm not knocking it. But it does, sometimes, loom. Big stretches of undefined time, like big stretches of undefined space, can make a person uncomfortable. Most of us, I think, really need boundaries. They help you know where you stand.
So: a schedule. Boundaries for the Week, if you will. This isn't anything I'm going to print out and laminate and check off, but it's helpful to have a not-super-rigid set of expectations for myself. So far, this is what I've got:
Mondays: Laundry. (Yes, big excitement there, but I'm only doing it once a week, which rocks.)
Tuesday: Fix a space. (Clearing out stuff, organizing stuff, whatever. Once a week I'm going to tackle a room, or a closet, or at least a drawer. This week, I cleaned up under the kitchen sink. So. Gross.)
Wednesday: Volunteer. (I volunteer with the snack program at Sarah's school. It isn't, you know, fulfilling in a meaningful way, but it's cute to see all the kids, and cracks me up that I'm officially "Sarah's Mom" there. Even the kids who know my name call me that at school.)
Thursday: Groceries. (It's gotta happen at some point.)
Friday:.... (To Be Determined. Or maybe just left open.)
Weekends can be weekends. Whatever needs tackling can be tackled, and if there's nothing pressing, well, that's just fine.
So, that's the plan. It's modest, it's flexible, and I can change it up if I need to. Not bad. Oh, oh, and I have a small goal for myself for this school year: I intend to experience something new once a month. Whether that's learning a new craft or other skill, or going someplace I've never been, or otherwise extending myself, at least once a month I'm going to try something new. I thought I'd missed out on September, but I just remembered that I, duh, started volunteering for the first time. September, check!
There you go. What I do with myself now that Sarah's in school.
