Happy Wednesday, folks.
Last week, I gave you guys a little gift from me. If you missed it, here it is [http://bit.ly/1iJ7ptn] – enjoy some lovin’.
Today though, I’m giving myself a gift – and it’s not even my birthday! “What is it?”, you ask. Good question! It’s the gift of completion. Have you heard of this notion? The idea is that something wonderful happens to us when we finish something – even if it’s something small. That’s why it feels so good to mark those to-dos off of our lists!
Because when the laundry is folded and away, when I’ve finished a great book, when I’ve gotten the whole pile off of my desk – I feel blissful.
So I’m going to admit something to you today – I am a serial-stager.
Yeah, I said it.
I stage everything – for the next step.
What the beejeebees does that even mean?
Let me give you an example.
I start off really great in the morning. It isn’t uncommon for me to throw a load of wash in before I head downstairs. And when the buzzer goes off 30-minutes later, I’m known to head back up, and move the damp clothes into the dryer. And when that buzzer goes off 60-minute later, dead silence.
Nada.
Because I’m on to something else by that point.
Okay, I think, I’ll go back upstairs when I’m done with what I’m doing, I’ll take the clothes out of the dryer, fold them, and put them away.
WRONG.
I don’t go back upstairs when I’m done with what I’m doing, because I’m on to something else by that point.
When I do go back upstairs hours later to brush my teeth before I pick up the kiddos from school, I have a thought: the laundry! But I don’t have time to do it now because I’m going to pick up the kiddos, so I’ll take it out of the dryer – in case someone else wants to do a load of laundry [mock laughter], and I’ll pile it on my bed. I’ll do it when I get home, or at least before I go to sleep, because I can’t sleep with a pile of clothes on my bed – obviously!
Six hours later, when I head up for bed, the pile is staring back at me. It has made itself at home in between my throw pillows and has turned in for the night. Oh no, you don’t! I’m tired, so I’m not going to fold to you, but you can bet I’m going to do that as soon as I get up, so I’m just going to move you onto my reading chair until then.
Morning comes. Showers happen. Kids start pulling clean clothes out of the by-now wrinkled pile on my reading chair.
Within a few days, the pile has magically disappeared. Oh wait. Now it’s in the hamper again.
Ughhhh.
I do the same thing with the dishes, paperwork, grocery bags that need recycling, things I need to return to my mom/sister-in-law/friend, bags of donations.
I stage things – in steps – until I’m ready to move on.
But since hearing Anna Kunnecke speak about the gift of completion, I’ve been hyper-aware of my shortcoming, and am deep in correction-mode.
Because I’m grateful when I finish something and can put it in the books.
I ask myself, “Self? Is it really so hard to take fifteen whole minutes in a row to remove the clothes from the dryer, fold them, and put them away?”
Nope – not when the reward is being thankful that it’s done. I can mark it off. Put it behind me. Happily move on to something else. Guiltlessly relax.
I deserve to take care of myself, and having piles, halfway-completed tasks, unfinished business, and more to wake up to tomorrow doesn’t do that for me.
So I’m honoring the part of me that gets things done for everyone else. I’m making her my new best friend. I just gave her an encouraging pat on the back, in fact, because she’s pretty rad if I do say so myself.
My Juicy Glad-I-Caught-That: When we are motivated by goals that have deep meaning, by dreams that need completion, by pure love that needs expressing, then we truly live. ~Greg Anderson
My blog is just one way I can do that.
I can write it, and give it my seal of approval – all in one relatively short sitting. I don’t have to get a thought out of my head on Monday, get it 90% done on Tuesday, and then circle-back to it on Wednesday.
I can give myself the gift of completion.
See you on the flip-side.
In love,
Noelle
xoxox