That's Life

Sometimes I'm guilty of not being honest with you here. I like to hide behind this cyber reality that was born from Alex and my imaginations. It's a "safer" place for me. I usually just tell you about the work in my hands or maybe share something beautiful or yummy I found. But today I feel bleh, and it's my turn to write something for you all. Lucky people, you get the real me.

Today the anxiety over all my "to-do's" has reached it's tipping point. At the risk of reenacting that scene in Coal Miner's Daughter where Loretta breaks down on stage and Doo has to carry her off...I will share with you some of what is cluttering my head:

School has started and my Kindergartener is having some issues (exhaustion, and a weird personality shift) dealing with a full day in the classroom. Workdays at Company X have been leaving me feeling creatively drained. The pile of have-to knitting (loose ends from upcoming book submissions Alex and I are fortunate enough to be involved in) is lingering. Every weekend has been activity-filled. For some reason cooking is not the escape that jars me out of my funk this time, I actually have been avoiding it. Stomach aches. Tired. And don't actually get me started on my current thoughts about cleaning.

I am guessing that I am suffering from toomuchtodoitis. I need to slow my life down a notch. It's time to prioritize what is the most important stuff and jettison the rest. I am one who prides herself on handling whatever comes her way with a stiff upper lip, so this isn't easy for me. This is my battle-plan for reclaiming my balance...

1. Strip the calendar clean of 1/2 of my obligations. I think this needs no further explanation :)

2. Make lists. This is something that I've done for years and years. I think it stems from having to "prioritize" my work at my jobby job. Nothing calms me down more than writing all the tasks ahead of me down and then ticking them off one by one.

3. Get outdoors. Stewing in my own juices happens indoors. Getting outside in the crisp fall air is the best way to raise my spirits. Get out of the house, take the chirren over to the ice age trail and hike until we find our centers.  (Woo...that sounds REALLY "Madison", doesn't it?)

4. Meditate. One of my buddies is really getting into meditation. I'm going to hit him up for some guidance here. This subject is new to me which probably means I will eventually be writing about it here!

5. Vision board revamp. What is it that I want out of life? A vision board always helps me get in touch with the key things that are important to me right now. It is actually a big helper when it comes to prioritizing in Step 2.

And it wouldn't be me without talking about my craftiness...

The monster quilt is actually coming along. The pieced-blocks are all pretty much finished and now I am on to the embroidered/appliqued blocks. I have no experience with applique so at the moment I am reading books and watching YouTube videos...gearing up for the task at hand sort-to-speak.

Take it easy folks, treat yourself well and get outdoors.

–Cassandra