Until it's the end of July and I haven't completed a quarter of all that I wanted to do.
Because, friends, how lazy is lazy? Like any educator out there, I work hard during the school year. I write reports, create lesson plans, score tests, and plan. "Plan" is just a catch-all word that includes mundane things like: photocopy, shred, file, organize, read, email, prepare materials, and collaborate with others. Oh, and yard duty, four recesses a week. Luckily, I love my job, the people I work with, and the kids I see everyday, so it's no big deal. By the end of the year, I'm ready . . . READY . . . for the summer. Again, most of you educators feel me, right? If I have to hear one more "she said she's not my friend" again, I will repeatedly stab a hot fudge sundae with a spoon and don't know if I'll ever stop.
And summers are meant to be lazy! People are meant to slow down. We're supposed to lounge on the beach, drink large or many cups of coffee in the morning, and do the Sunday New York Times crossword puzzle. We're supposed to get BORED because that's how we get creative. We're supposed to get futtless, take naps, eat snacks, daydream, and turn off our brains.
So I try to follow some very basic rules when I can: no waking up early, no going to sleep early, watch lots of TV, read lots of books, get a tan, don't eat too much. That's pretty much it. And in between those things, I try to be productive. In the past, I've made goals to finish writing a manuscript; I was going to read all those books people gave me; I was going to have lunch with as many friends as I could; I was going to deconstruct the kitchen and replace it with a cleaner, less sticky and fuzzy version. None of these things happened!
Because, friends, you still haven't told me-- how lazy is lazy? I can sit down to eat my bagel, turn on the news, and never turn off the TV again for the rest of the day. By dinner, I'll have finished New Girl, season three, caught twenty different choreographers' interpretations of "The Shape of You," and rewatched every Bad Lip Reading music video, every Epic Rap Battles of History, and every Jimmy Fallon Classroom Instruments performance, and consider it a productive day. For being lazy.
But every day can't possibly be a lazy, rot-in-front-of-the-TV sort of day, any more than it can be a scrub-the-floor-til-I-can-eat-off-of-it every stinking day, right? You need balance.
I'm trying something very new this year. It's called Planning. You might have heard of it. Planning for the Home is not unlike Planning for the Classroom in that it involves some very mundane activities, such as: organizing, emailing, reading, and collaborating with others. The at-home version, however, includes laundry, dirty dishes, and dust bunnies older than my littlest niece. As a bonus, it also includes fun stuff like creating stuff, beach, camp, and Maui.
I haven't gotten it down completely because it's much harder than it seems. I made a bill tracker, and I've actually used it! Yes, it's in my bullet journal, so double points for me!
I've also been getting ready for camp, which is the best! I get to make lists and scour YouTube and Pinterest for camping hacks and must-haves. Come on, who doesn't need lights on their shoes? If we actually wore shoes for crabbing, we'd be totally in it to win it.
And books. My favorite, but probably most problematic. Why? Because nothing I do seems to make it any easier to read a book (let alone THREE) any faster. I've tried daily page counts and reading times (30 minutes a day, for example). They're not even long and they're totally topics I'm into, so why can't I finish? Or even get started? Ugh. If you've got a trick, let me know. I think it's the hardest because it requires me to sit and do nothing. I'm not even motivated to bring it to the gym anymore.
Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes. Blogging is still one of my weekly goals, so I am actually being productive as I type this out (even if I'm writing about how I'm not reading and could actually be reading right now instead). So far it's been pretty good, though I haven't stepped foot on a beach yet, and the only person I've dined with that I'm not related to is, uh, no one! You could be my first! We'll see how the summer turns out-- we still got time! I want to play and work and be lazy. I just want it all. Certainly, you can help. If you've got any life hacks that might make this any easier, please share! I'd be especially excited if it were something that involved lists and my bujo. And if you want to hang out, eat some food, walk around the park, catch a moving picture show, or come clean my house, I'm totally game. It's summer!
Edit: I'm a liar. I actually had breakfast with Kimi and Keoki during alumni week, and they're the first non-family members to join me on my Wednesday Whole Foods morning trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment