Days Off – What to Do?

Times have been busy for me these past few years. Lots to do and learn. Work with SCORE mentoring, helping alcoholic colleagues to get sober and stay that way (on-going mission!), and learning how to proactively help teen age drug addicts. All helping tasks. All challenging. Not all are successful, but then that’s life. We try and struggle and hope for the best. We learn techniques along the way and some actually work. Others don’t but we don’t know why. We analyze the experiences to learn more but not all moments are teaching ones!

Writing fills many hours of time, too. These are thoughts I journal daily about life lived and what it means. Never an end to the questions, nor the answers. Always something to think about and to use in a new way with a future opportunity.

The days and weeks flash by. It’s Monday and suddenly it’s Sunday, and then Monday all over again. Only it isn’t all over again. The experiences are new, the people are different and the paradigms are shifting all over the place to conform with changing circumstances and times. Never a dull moment; perhaps a dull routine but not the moments. Those are fresh each second.

Sometimes I look forward to a soft day in which few appointments are on the docket. Maybe a chance to nap or catch up on some errands? After doing those, however, there is nothing but time. Nothing clamoring to get done. The phone is not ringing, nor is the email inbox very active.

The mind turns to what to do or think about – whether before, during or after a nap! – and I come up blank. Turn on the TV and watch numbing, lowest common denominator programming (blech!). Reach for a book; read it already; page through it anyway to see if a spark of interest remains; no. Reach for another book and this time something, but soon I’m on page 3 and my eyes droop into a welcome nap.

Upon awaking it’s time for a potty break and then the news. Might as well check my emails and phone message, too. None but spam. Easily erased. On to the TV and the news. Over half the program is devoted to ads and the other half is mainly about violent crimes and disappointing life circumstances. Predictably the program ends with a feel good story of a found dog or cat missing many months, now happily reunited with its family.

So my attention turns to eating, snacking or dining. Following that I begin thinking about the book everyone tells me to write. And I have begun the process. It is not the words that are the problem, or filling up blank pages, either. I have enough saved material for 9 books. No, the trouble is with thematic organization. What to write about specifically and what to include, what voice to use, and how can I make good use of all the stuff already written?

So I spend a few days doing that. trouble is this: it is focused on me, my thoughts and what I would do if I were King of the World. Not a helpful or valued thing to spend time on.

Back to the drawing board. More thinking on what I should do with my time. A look at more volunteer organizations and the fine objectives they have identified for themselves. Many are of interest to me. Why not knock on their door and try them out?

The why-nots boil down to this: volunteer organizations are always looking for more people, more money to handle expenses, and dealing with people fading into and out of the organization based on their life forces and interests. These are always wave-like and do not always serve the purpose of the organization. In fact they often get in the way of achieving the mission and fulfilling the long term vision.

Sobering thoughts these. Each and every one of them. Sometimes they are depressing. So much need in the world and so much work to do.

I suppose that’s why celebrations are important. We take some time out of our busy schedules and say “well done” to each other, smile, hunch our shoulders, and get back to work. It is important to say well done and thank you. It is essential, actually. Just don’t let that small act stand in the way of getting back to the real work at hand.

I guess it is all about helping others. I keep coming back to that. Gaining the self is only achievable by forgetting the self. Working for the betterment of others seems to be the lasting theme that matters. To me, to them, and for you.

Back to the drawing board. What’s next on the agenda?

July 5, 2016