5 Days to go

Ok, here I am at 8:30 in the morning, doing what I set out to do. This whole "right thing" experiment is interesting. How many of us were told at least once in our lives to do the right thing because it's the right thing to do? That didn't seem like a whole lot of motivation for me as a kid. Now, as I gear up for this sixty day period, I am putting a lot of thought into the ways I believe I will benefit from doing the right thing. They say doing the right thing is hard. I'm sure it will be, but I have learned in my life that doing the wrong thing is harder. I believe the motivation for me to just go ahead and do the "wrong" easy thing in life stems from a desire to feel immediately comfortable, or at least not having to face the immediate consequences of my choices. It just feels better, at the moment. So here's a typical day for a lot of us:

We hear the alarm and hit the snooze button enough times to have to really scramble to be on time. This sets off a chain of events in which we don't make the bed, grab clothes out of the dresser creating a mess there, because three outfit changes later we finally find something that's not too tight, stuff anything in our mouths to stave off hunger, yell at the kids because we got them up late too, and drive too fast to our destination. Because we got up late, we don't even attempt to find a way to exercise, and lunch is another dump of "whatever food" into our bellies. After work, we get home only to find that we never thawed out anything for supper, and rationalize that Little Caesar's offers a cheaper meal than we can make at home, anyway. We drag ourselves back out of the house to spend money we don't have on food we wouldn't have needed if we had only planned ahead. So we stuff even more junk into our bodies. The house is still in a state of disarray from us tornado-ing around in the morning. After supper, we throw away our paper plates (because paper saves time!) At this point in the day, everyone is grouchy, the kids are giving us papers to sign for school saying we are aware that they missed the deadline for something important (again). We get on the phone and talk to our friends for a half-hour, complaining that we don't have enough time to get anything done. We put everyone to bed, sit down to watch our favorite show on t.v., then drag ourselves to our room, telling ourselves we are too tired to clean up from this morning's "I'm going to be late again" mess. We fall into the unmade bed feeling overwhelmed. Because we are frustrated, we can't sleep. Because we can't sleep, we lie awake, knowing that we will be too tired in the morning to wake up to the alarm the first time. The next day, we do it all over again. If we're somewhat motivated when the weekend comes, we spend a few hours getting the house clean and organized, but by Monday night, it's back to the way it was. If we're not motivated on the weekend, we sit around in the chaos, hating our lives, but not doing anything about it.

This is all in the name of doing "whatever we want". I think for me, I need to look at the entire landscape when I think of doing what I want. Doing what I want means being able to feel good in a pair of pants I used to be able to wear last year. Doing what I want means having impromptu company and not looking around wondering if they're noticing the crumbs on the rug that have been there since Tuesday of last week. Doing what I want means having the fun of shopping for that treasured item I saved up for. Doing what I want means enjoying that hour of TV as I sit in my chair content that my work is done. In the distant future, doing what I want means being able to sit on the beach on a beautiful sunny day instead of in a hospital bed dealing with the results of a lifetime of poor choices. The biggest area of my life when it comes to "doing what I want" is to be a calm, peaceful mother and friend, thus making those around me feel peaceful and loved. I know of no greater detraction for loving behavior than the feeling of being inadequate, rushed and impatient - with ourselves and each other. When all is said and done, doing what I want really means - you guessed it - Doing the RIGHT THING!

Tomorrow's topic will be looking at the blueprint for a day in which I choose to do the right thing all day.

Thought for today...Don't sacrifice the immediate on the altar of the permanent.

Until Tomorrow~~~Elizabeth