deciphering the days

I met my younger self for coffee today.  She got there fifteen minutes early, and stayed in her car until time. I showed up just a couple minutes early, but looked at the menu already. She isn't sure what to order and worries about the cost. She doesn't say anything, but I know what she's thinking; I try to pay but she declines. I swipe from a joint bank account that will never notice a coffee purchase.  She drinks her hot mocha and I sip my iced vanilla latte. We split my fruit pastry as I know we both have a sweet tooth.  I forget to pray before we eat, and now she's worried about my soul. She's worried about hers too though. I'm not ready to talk religion with her yet.  Her hair is in a tight pony tail, her clothes are tight fitting and bright, and her eyes are wide. My soft curls are in a loose claw clip, my clothes are muted autumn tones that bring out my content demeanor. Her hair is long. So is mine, but only over the last year or so.  She asks where my b...

the voices in my head Starting my day with eggs, peanut butter toast, and coffee was a good choice. Including a ten minute social media scroll was not, partially because it was a sixty minute scroll. A scroll full of violence against people in the name of morals and religion, raiding elementary schools for "illegal children," idiotic laws about conception determining gender and starting at erection, and notable comparisons of bodily movements to historical villains... I'm tired. Should have stayed in bed. I shouldn't have scrolled...maybe? But I do need to know, right? What choices my country's leaders are making...I should know that, even if it's hard to watch.  The anxiety, that I did not wake up with, haunted me until well after lunch. The anger.  I have never been involved with politics outside of my own personal vote. But when is it time? I'm angry. I don't know how to help. I need to take care of myself and learn how to take care of others. FITNE...

What would it be like, to be a relaxed woman? To live my life in a way that I was proud of, happy with, and content with. Not one that makes me resent the care-free attitudes of men in my life, as I do not feel like I can relax, because things will do get done if I do not do them.  It's true though - things will not get done if I am not the one to do them. So what is the solution? Find the limit of what I can do without being bitter, and stop there? Build in more times where I do not worry about the things that need done, and and ignore them if they do? Simplify my life to the point so much less needs done? I like the last one. Having a life so simply that there is not longer a disproportionate weight on me.  What works this year might not work next, but I hope to reach a point where I learn to be relaxed and then hold on to it, change with it, embrace it. 

I read Atomic Habits last year. I tried goal setting, time management, kanban boards, more planners and organizers, another wave of Marie Kondo.  It's not helping.  So I re-evaluated pain points, did some strategic planning, and have a new plan.  I will now get up 15-30 minutes earlier every morning before work. During that time, I will do household tasks that need done, are building up, or feel like they are unfairly my responsibility. Nothing too dirty of course, because I will be heading out to work. But unloading and loading the dishwasher, washing couch cushions, dusting the china cabinet that I don't even want, sorting the mail; the list goes on. But I have energy in the morning, and it feels nice to knock out a task before anything else. I am also more awake and engaging when I get to work. Then when I get home, I don't clean the house. I clean up after myself, and keep things moving, but I do not have to spend my evenings cleaning. My husband doesn't; I don'...