kids
Permission to Be
My kids pre-coronavirus. Ready to take on the world.
I have fallen off the earth, it seems. Like the rest of the world, I’ve been adjusting to a new life where my kids are on the computers all day attending zoom classes and doing homework in virtual classrooms. Posting on my blog has dropped in priority. However, I’m beginning to think we need another computer, because I really miss my writing time! (Actually, I’m making 10-yo late for her class which starts in two minutes, so I guess this will be short.) 😬
For many, this has been a great time to hunker down and write. For others it has been a time of anxiety and fear, and zero writing is getting done. For even others, it’s a time of adjusting schedules and finding a way to get in writing again (like me!). Times like these can mean a lot of guilt for some. Guilt for escaping from the realities of life. Guilt for NOT escaping from the realities of life. Guilt for having time and ability to write when others don’t. Guilt for not writing when you feel like you should. So. Much. Guilt.
I can’t be productive in any way with guilt, so I gave myself permission to take a break. If I write, great! If I don’t write, well that’s great, too. Right now, my focus is on my kids. Helping them cope in a time that is pretty stressful. They worry about school. They worry about friends. They worry about the world. They worry about their dad who still goes in to work everyday in a high risk environment (he’s a physician). I perhaps can’t fix the world right now, but I can make my home a little spot of peace for my kids. Give them some stability in a world that seems to have very little of that.
I hope that you will all give yourself permission to be the person you need/want to be right now. No guilt. We’re all doing our best. Big hugs, and stay safe!
Speak up:
comment| TAGS:
coronavirus, hugs, kids, parenting, writingFinding Motivation
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| Middle child at 5, proud of his piano skills, and oh, so motivated. |
- Winter doldrums: Totally real thing.*** It’s cold. I’m tired. There’s less daylight, and I’m getting less vitamin D. Winter is winter, and aren’t we supposed to hibernate or something?
- Sheer laziness: Writing is work.**** Sometimes I just don’t want to work. I want to laze about and catch up on those seasons of Sherlock I’ve missed.*^5 I’m sure you understand.
- My long-term goal is messing with my head: My overall goal is to finish. But when I think of the twenty bajillion more rounds of revisions I have to face in order to reach that goal . . . well, you can see why I just want to curl up in a ball, rock back and forth, and hum Kumbaya. It’s overwhelming!
- I have kids: Yeah, this one’s pretty self-explanatory. But it never fails . . . I’m just getting in the zone when the call of the wiley one echoes through the house: “MOM! Fee! Fi! Fo! Fum! Can. You. Come. Wipe. My. Bot. Tom.” Yep, she yells it just like that. And when I go to her, she tells me that she yelled it just like that. She’s pretty proud of that little rhyme. Gosh . . . I should use that in a picture book. 😉
So I could go on.*^6 But the point is, there are plenty of excuses we can use for why we didn’t write. We need to find that one thing that keeps us going. We need to find that one song that motivates us. That one challenge that has us begging for more writing time. Because isn’t that why we started on this road in the first place?
What is your motivation?
*It may or may not have been “Part of this World” from Little Mermaid, and I may or may not have sung this song incessantly at the time. But you’ll never know for sure. 😉
**My dad’s an amazingly accomplished musician and I don’t mind bragging on him a bit.
***This is actually the reason that I doubt my ability to live in Alaska or anywhere way up North. How do you people do it?
****This it a totally true thing, too. 😉
*^5 That would refer to every season. So you can see why I really need to catch up.
*^6 Seriously. I swear I didn’t just stare at the screen for five minutes trying to come up with a fifth theory.
Speak up:
10 comments| TAGS:
kids, Kumbaya, laziness, Little Mermaid, Motivation, piano, piano lessons, winter doldrums, writingThoughts on Peer Pressure and Caves
So yes, after years of resisting, I have caved. I have started a blog.
It’s not that I dislike blogs, of course, or even the idea of blogging, but rather a question of where my time is best spent. Do I clean the house (not if I can at all justify otherwise), play with my children (and frustrate them by my inability to make believable weapon sounds with my mouth), work on my book (that is running through my head anyway), call someone I haven’t spoken to in ages (but how to choose among so many?), play solitaire on the computer (which really isn’t an option, but sounded funny), finish unpacking (so many boxes, so little time), or do I bag it all and start a blog?
I’m sure you can see my dilemma.
However, after weighing my options, and considering the sound advice of several friends, I have come to the conclusion that maybe, just maybe, a blog is not a time vaccuum, but a way to keep friends and family informed on my life. Then, I can let go of the guilt for not contacting them all more often, and accomplish more (like mastering the art of making shooting sounds with your mouth).
Only time will tell (no pun intended). 😉