Here’s to a Slower 2008
December 13, 2007 by kate baggott
Filed under Mental Health
There really are only 18 days left in 2007. The means the last 347 days have gone by like an old video in a VCR with the button stuck on fast forward. The picture is moving in a blurry, jumpy way through all the boring and important parts equally. That’s been my life and my life is not a movie.
Even if it were, it would be full of continuity errors. My hair would be wilder from scene to scene, the circles under my eyes would be darker or lighter, the kids would be either dressed to the nines or wearing jeans out of a Charles Dickens’ novel (if there were jeans in Victorian times) frayed at the hem with permanent grass stains on the knees. The only constant would be my husband complaining of neglect and, really, I am luckier than other women in this respect. My husband does the laundry.
Yes, I am a working mother and this is a typical lament of my tribe. We are a time-starved people. I have a fantasy/stress dream typical of my generation. Just before the alarm goes off, I happily discover that there is an extra hour in the day, an extra day in the week(end) and/or extra month in the year. And then, that blaring beeping starts, the red light on the clock flashes and my heart starts racing with the need to rush, rush, rush.
My only goal for 2008, the only one that matters, is to somehow make time move more slowly.
I guess my slogan for ‘08 should be READY, SET, DON’T GO!
I am always doing something. My children have everything that they need, but my five year-old frequently stomps out of rooms yelling “I don’t have time for this” and I know exactly where he learned that (I used to be a laid back kind of person). My almost two year-old struggles out of her stroller as we walk between the day care and the car in all weather because she knows it might be her only chance to be free out of doors for the entire day. My husband engages in attention-seeking behavior, like buying cars without consulting me, because negative attention is better than no attention (or so I assume, I only know child psychology, adult psychology is out of my realm of expertise depth). I am not unaffected by this time shortage either. It takes me weeks to make a doctor’s appointment let alone go to one.
So, what do I do? Do I set the alarm even earlier to make sure we get breakfast together? Do I attempt to reduce my work hours and our household budget? Do I just, finally, learn to say NO to people who ask for favors they’ll never be able to return? Should I figure out why there are extra kids running around our house so often while my kids never get invited anywhere? I know I shouldn’t give up my job because, if there is one thing I have learned from reading blogs it is that stay-at-home parenting is even more stressful than working and parenting in tandem.
I don’t know.
I don’t know how this happened.
I don’t know how to respond.
I just know I need to figure it out now. I don’t want 2008 to pass in a blur. I’d like to actually see it while I live it. I think some of the plot is actually pretty interesting, the characters are amazingly well cast and the events are truly unique while maintaining a hint of the every(wo)man. And, I am not just talking about the misbehavioural art.
All it needs is savoring. All it needs is time for laughter in all the right places.
**
Please vote for this post in Week Five of Project Blog.
In this week’s challenge, Allison asked us to define our goals for 2008. In case you haven’t guessed, the end of the year is actually here surprised me completely.
I am competing in Project Blog for:
- An autographed picture of Jackie Warner, courtesy of Sky Sport and Spa (Jackie Warner’s gym from Work Out)
- A pair of shoes from the newest line from Jonathan Kayne (one of my favorite Project Runway Alums)
- A Soffe college hoodie, courtesy ofBCS Frenzy
- Gold-plated earrings from Aurora at Between the Sheets
- A pet portrait, courtesy of Intricate Art
- A set of bud vases from Top Design’s Jonathan Adler
And as a reader of Project Blog posts, YOU CAN WIN TOO! Every week, Reality on Bravo is teaming up with some awesome sponsors to offer prizes for lucky readers. Anyone who leaves a comment on Monday’s Reality on Bravo post or on the voting post will be automatically entered to win the astrological reading from Beth at Astrology Explored.
The blogtestants:
1. Winnie, Watching the View: “I can almost picture it now…”
2. Kate, Babylune: “Here’s to a Slower 2008″
3. Sally, Style Fix: “Hunger Pains Drive My Goals for 2008″
4. Jodie, “Big (Dinner) Plans for 2008″
5. Kara, Colorado Review: “2008 – Bring it On!”
6. Mark, Get Incensed: “The One Habit of a Moderately Successful Person”
oh, I can so relate to this post. Time goes by so fast and I always seem to be hurrying somewhere. My hubby asked me what I want for Christmas and I simply said “time”. No amount of money can buy me that! Thanks for the post…I voted for you!
Thanks for the vote Workout Mommy. By the way, I can’t wait to see what you cook up for the January Healthy & Fit Family.
I hear you, Kate. That new Daylight Savings Time extension didn’t help me, either.
I say, the heck with universal health care, I think we should vote for the candidate who’ll promise us a 36-hour day!
Mark- My worry is that they’ll just use that to lengthen the legal work day to 28 hours.
Good point, Kate. I may have to move to France.
Kate, I have to say, the image of a five-year-old stomping out of the room saying “I don’t have time for this!” really charmed me. Cute.
And yes, we could all use more time. Good resolution!
Kate, you’re always spot on. There’s the occasional moment when time stops and all of a sudden there’s nothing pressing, kids are asleep or away, house is clean, deadlines are not in your face and then what? Then I sit and do nothing. Nothing at all. I pray for heaps of those for you without haveing to run any faster or work any harder in 2008.
Jodie- Some comments have “childless and staying that way” written between the lines.
Julie- Nothing at all? I am so looking forward to that.