Friday, March 10, 2006

Finish Lines

I'm approaching the end of one semester and the mid-point of another one. Actually, I should rephrase that in terms of classes--one class is ending on Monday while the other class enters mid-term. I am also very close to the end of my tenure as local chapter president. If all goes well, I have a case that may end very soon.

I can clearly see the end of the line, and for once, I am beginning to breathe easier.

I was crazy to take on so many things all at once. I had been a board member for a friend's foundation, and that required so much from me. Even she realized that I was just too busy to focus on her stuff, so she gave me an out by letting me retire. The fact is, I might have held on to the position anyway because of that nagging sense that I could actually juggle so many actitivities.

The truth is, I am not superwoman. I am not even a superwoman in training. I am a woman who can't say no, and who desperately needs to add that word to her vocabulary. Or else...

For example, I used to operate under the assumption that I could get more things done if I were just organized better. Yeah right. The first strike against that plan was that I am NEVER organized. It just isn't in my DNA. Whenever I do get organized, I get confused.

There are aspects of my life that are somewhat well organized, but I still have moments when I have to insert some chaos into the mix. I can keep all of my handouts neatly labeled in folders, and they are kept in a central location where I could find them on a moment's notice. But they are sitting on the floor of my living room in a corner, so I am not sure if that counts as being organized.

Now I operate under the notion that there are 24 hours in a day, and given that I spend at least 8 of them in bed, 2 of them eating, 4 on the computer (I still have dial-up), and 2 in my car, that only leaves me with 8 additional hours in which to get anything accomplished. Well, then I have to factor in my TV shows, my crossword puzzles, my coffee breaks, and dance classes, and that whittles the time down to about 5 hours. I don't engage in all of these activities every day, but they are significant enough for me to determine that on any given day of the week I have, on average 3 good hours in which to accomplish anything of real importance.

Today, that will be grading papers. I probably will not finish them all, so then that project will spill over into tomorrow's time, which includes a meeting in the middle of the day and possibly church in the evening (the hub has found God again because it is softball season). See how easy it is to lose track of time?

Like now, I have spent about 20 minutes or so composing this post. But at least it is now finished. Ciao!

2 comments:

princessdominique said...

I can tell by your posts that you'd be a good writer. Such an attention to detail.

Ayanna Damali said...

Thanks,

I just need to focus. I have so much going on in my head, but by the time I get to the computer, it doesn't happen the way I wanted.

But I'm working on it.