New Years Reflections

Since I have still been in school for many more years than I have been out the beginning of September, specifically the labor day weekend remains a time of new beginnings and reflection of a new year of goals to set ( I can re evaluate them in January...).

Recently I have been thinking about "distraction" or everything that interrupts the bigger picture. Many, or all, even of these distractions are positive...book clubs, yoga classes, writers workshops, preschool, mom's groups, play dates, movie nights, email, facebook, yard sales, a favorite television show...but when they add up to take up the bulk of your time...well they become a distraction to the things that matter most. I often have a mental to do list of things I have prioritized in my week as important and often times I get to none of them because of the more appealing things to do that creep up in the moment. Priority gets pushed into the category of "later" and more and more it is not happening.
Something I have been trying to do...you know when I am not being distracted by the temptations of facebook...is weed out the things that genuinely uplift me and better me as a wife, mother and woman, from those things that simply entertain me or fill my time wastefully. I am seeking more of a balance where this is concerned....September New Years seems to be a time appropriate for such weeding...

One thing that I am happy to put on the keep list is my blog. This one right here! I am happy to have this record and proud of my commitment to journalling (you can tell by the unexciting blog name that I didn't really expect to ever write more than a few posts much less three years and over 600 entries worth! I would have spent more time on the URL had I known!) One thing that gets the toss is the amount of blogs I read. I find them inspiring, great for ideas, entertaining, uplifting and a favorite way to spend time. However, lately I have found that some, make me question myself and my strengths, even though I am keenly aware that a blog is an ideal representation of what one wants to not only remember but present to the blog community. They are censored glimpses into the lives of others and the super woman you are reading about in one also wears two different shoes to church on occasion and pours orange juice in the breakfast cereal. Regardless I was questioning my own esteem in the end and getting lost in comparisons. I additionally was realizing that I was spending plenty of time getting lots of ideas from these different sites but finding little time to actually carry them out. I was spending so much time reading about the lives of others that I was taking time away from living my own!

Another distraction that got the toss is the television. We don't watch a lot of television but Ben watches too much...and Jacob at seven months has been known, of late, too drop what he is doing and glue his eyes to the screen as well...and me...I kinda, sorta, have pretended I didn't notice. But I did...I could see their brains beginning to rot right there in front of me (well...behind my laptop screen...). I don't really believe that appropriate television is inherently evil for children. I do believe though that as a one dimensional experience they are not gaining experience or memories where they otherwise might be. The hour of television watched represents an hour of playing, bonding, running, moving, singing, crafting, colouring, playdoughing, legoing, lost.

Can the television teach children things? Sure it can but not as effectively, efficiently or as fun as if another person was interacting with them and they were using five senses to discover the new skill or experience....Ben is in for a rude awakening when he discovers the "broken" television behind the armoir doors tomorrow...but there is a bag of new art supplies that I think will satisfy the wailing pretty quickly.

Essentially in taking out the distractions I want to free my time to be able to do more...


Count blessings more, complain less
Serve more, judge less
Think more of the big picture and less of the details
Hug more, lecture less
Do more, plan less
Worry more about what God thinks and less what other's think
Make more mess and clean less
Read more books and watch less television
Have more interesting "status'" and take less time to update them
Trust Him more, worry less

Happy September New Year!

Ps. I canceled my facebook account.

pss. I lasted three days away from facebook. Then I missed two engagements. Bah. I am now going to limit my distractions...and practice balance, which I am admittedly bad at.