I could hear it as I forced my eyes open at around 6:30AM.
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A quick aside… thank you to all who pre-ordered my book last week. You helped rocket it to the #5 book in Canada and the #8 book in Political Humour in the USA. I was overwhelmed and my editor in NYC has stopped harassing me.
Anyway… I’m old(ish) and sleeping in is no longer an option for me. Either something aches, I have to go to the bathroom (again) or the guilt of not getting up consumes me until I get up.
The reward in aging is collecting good times. I have never gone geocaching but if it’s basically exerting a lot of effort, getting dirty, getting bitten by bugs, and needing the bathroom, in exchange for searching for and finding small moments of reward, then getting old is like geocaching.
But today was different.
I’ll be honest. I never actually feel that busy. I often feel like I’m just doing stuff and then doing other stuff that I didn’t get done yesterday and then doing stuff in preparation for tomorrow so I don’t have to do more stuff then… repeat ad nauseum.
But then it heads into ‘repeat add nausea’ territory.
I don’t feel that busy usually until I suddenly feel overwhelmed.
There is always something to do. Work, cleaning, maintenance and, the worst, yardwork.
Some of you may enjoy yardwork. I applaud this skill you possess in the same way that I applaud those who say things like “I like a good piece of liver for dinner” or “Gosh, I sure do love a crowded subway”, in that I applaud you for embracing these serious character flaws.
Winter is long here in Canada. This heightens the importance of every sunny day to an unhealthy level. So when it’s a nice day out you feel the need to take advantage of it. What better way to take advantage of it than to spruce up your surroundings.
Endless days are spent doing things like mowing, tilling, planting, pruning, seeding, whacking weeds and more all with the unspoken driving thought of “It’s going to be so nice to just sit and enjoy the backyard/garden/planters in the nice weather.”
And that’s how they get ya.
There’s always something to do and twice as much if the weather is good. The day you’re doing all this yardwork for may never come.
Again, I never feel that I’m that busy but then on days like today, I hear the rain in the quiet of the early morning and I think to myself… “Thank fuck I won’t have to do any yardwork.”
There’s a tendency for us humans to want to exploit good conditions in the hopes of reaping the reward at a later date. That’s a good survival mindset but we need to remind ourselves that our energy (physical, mental, emotional) is finite. We need to rest. Refuel. Recharge. Reap the rewards of what we’ve done to date or just… pause.
Rainy days make that decision for us and we get to enjoy a day of rest guilt-free. e.g. ”Ah darn, I really wanted to do some yardwork but it’s raining. Guess I’m forced to take it easy today. Shucks. Golly. Gosh.”
And this ‘yardwork’ I speak of can be a multitude of things. It’s really anything where you feel conditions are too good to squander so you better do it. That’s fine for a while. A long while even. But eventually you’re going to be so glad when it rains.
Be good to yourself.
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(Pictured: Author ruins tuxedo in unsuccessful effort to avoid yardwork)
This is where an enclosed covered porch comes in handy. Just sit with your coffee and the morning paper ( ok so it is only 10 pages and 6 of those are obits) ,look over your acreage and enjoy the view.
This is where an enclosed covered porch comes in handy. Just sit with your coffee and the morning paper ( ok so it is only 10 pages and 6 of those are obits) ,look over your acreage and enjoy the view.
"Getting old is like geocaching." Brilliant!