Life is just crazy. Yes, it is. We all walk through the insanity thinking that we’re the sane ones. And then, we realize that well, maybe not . . .
Like yours, my life is always filled with running nine ways to Sunday. My dear friends point this out often. “If you had any free time you’d just fill it up,” Charlotte tells me regularly. When a friend’s grown niece with children said she had too much on her plate, and, “I realized I’ll always have too much on my plate.” Her aunt Suzanne nodded to me and said, “Just like this one.”
It’s not that I mean to fill up all my time. And I listen to the counsel of friends. When I then take a hard look at scheduling and time and all that has to get done though, well, what can go? Where can time be carved out to do other things, such as, perhaps, sleep!
And like you, I manage it as best as possible. Between writing, writing, and writing, editing and show dogs and keeping up with all that entails, I smile at all the endeavors. They make me happy. Not one area truly exists to “cut.” Someday, maybe, but not now!
So in the midst of all of that, what do I do? Add another piece (okay, another whole pie) to the mix. Yeah, that’s the ticket!
But this one I couldn’t refuse. A new publisher has acquired the rights to publish I Just Came Here to Dance. There will be a splash. A promotional campaign is in the works. I am of course thrilled to the tips of my hair follicles! What fun!
Did I just bury the lead? LOL.
But that’s how things fit in my world. Though excited and surging with energy and so very happy my baby will have life breathed back into her, a place must be carved out for the birthing. And that place is . . . well?
It’s kinda like having a real baby though. Once it’s baking in the creative oven, you can’t exactly send it back. I.e., it’s coming, one way or another. And the only thing one can do is sit down and begin to change time-management so the blessed event emerges into our world in the best way possible.
I think I need some chocolate here. Too early for wine . . . Although as blogging coach Renee Groskreutz says, “It is never too early for wine on a cruise ship.”
But that’s what the stark realization does to me. The okay, first let me take a deep breath, find some sustenance, clear my mind, and then think about things. One of these decades I’m gonna sit like Buddha the majority of the day. Now, though, those times are carved out (regularly if I want to stay sane!) as bits of the schedule, albeit the most vital bits.
Because unless that happens, the entire planet I inhabit tilts on its access and the whole stuffing of Pandora’s Box comes blustering out.
It’s a real paradox that the crazier life is, the antidote is to sit quietly alone and breathe. Doesn’t make rational sense, but then, the rational mind is just part of the process. The subconscious rules us, like the rest of the iceberg submerged in the roiling sea. We can see the sharp tip that sticks out, but the real substance lives in the deep.
So before I go entirely insane, I’m off to meditate!
Because a novel whispers in the night to be finished. And another I love will have a resurgence of life this year. And keeping my psyche sane is a great project for that rational mind. Might as well put it to good use!
How do you keep your wits in crazy times?
Lori English
13 Aug 2017Susan,
A good article and meditating has always been a way that helps our thoughts, emotions, and our anxieties to decrease. Meditaation can center us and let our mind openfor new solutions. Thanks for a good article.
Lori English
Susan Malone
14 Aug 2017All so true, Lori! By quieting the mind and emotions, inspiration has a place to drop in. And therein lies the solution 🙂