A passionate person, there’s rarely a middle road with me. Once I get an idea for a project or commit to something, I am full steam ahead. Let’s say I decide to plant a lovely little geranium on my windowsill to enjoy every day. By the time I go to the garden center, I’ve decided to revamp the front and backyard beds completely. Or clothes… I don’t simply donate a couple of shirts. I’d rather completely empty the closet, vacuum it, try on all the clothes, and then put them back in some newly organized method. I tend to dive in enthusiastically or not at all.
I’ve always been like this. I remember that as a child, thinking about inviting a set of grandparents to visit for the afternoon was not nearly as exciting as planning to invite lots of family and having a party! Anything that entails brainstorming, making lists, decorating, and trips to the store gets me excited.
I exhaust myself completely.
Why am I thinking of this? I am catching myself committing to new things and I don’t want to do too much. I must remember that the reason I feel so joyful is that I’m living from a place of overflow right now. I am getting enough sleep, exercising, and taking care of myself, and so I am more than happy to smile, talk, uplift, and care for others. I most definitely do not want to exhaust myself because I’m having such fun!
I seem to have designed a new life for myself all of a sudden. What was I doing last year? I honestly can’t remember… I know I was super busy. I will still be reading (hello, that’s like breathing), blogging, and “art”ing, but I am adding these new things.
That’s me in 1981. I have wonderful memories of being a Brownie in the girl scouts for three years, with my own mother as the troop leader. We made sit-upons, we went camping, we sang songs, we helped our communities, and of course we sold lots of cookies. I’ve been looking forward to being able to introduce my own daughter to the empowering world of Girl Scouts. Last week I signed her up at her school to be a Daisy Scout and also volunteered to be a Troop Leader. There are a couple of training classes I need to take and then I’m sure I will be busy planning our year.
I have already been plenty busy planning the curriculum for teaching religious school, which begins in just a little over a week. I’ll be teaching 24 fifth graders. We will be examining the lives of specific Jewish heroes as a way to model how to internalize Jewish values and make good choices by actually living those values. We have a fun and busy year planned and I’m nervous and excited about getting started.
I am super excited to get involved in the elementary school where my sweet girl just started kindergarten. I believe I am going to be helping with the book fair that the school has each fall. I will most likely be a class parent as well, helping the teacher with communications and projects.
Until recently, this is about all our treadmill has been used for. Now that school has begun, I am going to be exercising every day. I mentioned a couple years ago, in writing about my Life List, that I’d like to try tap dancing again. I can’t remember when I stopped my dancing… sometime in high school I guess. From age 3 to 15, ballet/tap/jazz was a weekly activity. So I went ahead and signed up for an adult intermediate tap class that meets once a week at our community center. What the heck. This is part of an effort to be much more physically active.
I also signed up for a hatha yoga class there. Mindful stretching and breathing can only benefit.
I will soon begin a local Mindful Parenting group soon as well.
And our synagogue’s congregational singing group is stepping it up a bit this year. This will be the third year for us and it is such a fun spiritual release for me. I’ve met wonderful people doing this. Rather than meeting on Sunday mornings here and there, we will be meeting the first three Tuesday evenings of each month. I’ve already got some teenagers lined up to babysit. A regular schedule will help us be much more involved in participating in congregational events and celebrations.
So you see that I am unintentionally embarking on a completely new way of using my time and being more social. I glanced at my e-course schedule and realized that almost all of my classes have ended. Woo hoo! Check out the page for updates and reviews of what I’ve just finished. I’ve decided to simplify big-time here as well. So nobody is allowed to tell me about any new classes you think I’d like, ok?
Because of all this, I decided to make permanent this summer schedule of posting on Mondays and Thursdays. Two blog posts a week seems like a good amount to me.
Tell me what you’ve been up to!
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