Today was one of those days. You know the type I'm talking about.
When the to-do list seems to just keep going and going and going...
When for every one thing you check off, it seems like three more get added...
For every blog post I published or document I created, there was another one that I was reminded that wasn’t done yet. The email messages came in with new projects and things to add to the list. An IM message reminds me that there was another project still lurking out in the background that needs finishing up. Another message bringing a request from someone to know when I’ll finally have a chance to do something I should have done four months ago… the finance department pings me wondering when I’ll finally get to doing expenses… a calendar reminds me that I still need to book the flights for an upcoming trip…
The hits kept on coming and coming...
Not just in my work life, but also in my personal life… the guilt of not being able to meet with someone to help on a project that I helped start, but then haven’t been able to do much more with… drama within organizations with which I am involved… chaos in the lives of those around me who I love dearly… a reminder at dinner time that I need to find substitutes for the curling game I’m not going to be able to play in on Saturday… the lingering feeling that I’m dropping the ball on something else… and then the parent evening tonight… the unfinished email messages...
It was one of those days…
And then when I take a “break” to look in on social media, I find that world is exploding with amazing news all day today! So many things I want to write about… to podcast about… heck, just to READ about…
And the frustration that there are some big pieces of writing that I want to do. There are things happening all around us that I can see - dancing right in front of me - that I know that I can pull together and connect the dots in ways that would help these things make sense to other people. The frustration that I know I could help people understand.
But yet the pieces sit there… dancing just out of range… taunting me… beckoning… calling me to pull them together and make them whole…
It was one of those days…
And as the end of the day approaches there is a sense of frenetic activity… of an unsustainable pace… of burning too many candles at too many ends… of ropes fraying… of the need to do fewer things better… of the need to be more present…
And I must pause...
… and remind myself that sometimes the most powerful thing you can do is to simply...
… breathe.
To take that moment to pause amidst the chaos… to have a moment in the madness…
...
...
and then to pick yourself up...
put one foot in front of the other…
...
… and walk on.
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