Tuesday, September 6, 2011

it's haying season

"i'm a farm boy.
if we need five people to haul in hay,
we don't take one and
just work them to death."
- lincoln davis


yup. it's that time of year again. the farm boys are out haying and these wonderful giant roles of hay are cropping up everywhere!

lincoln and these hay bales got me to thinking. it seems often i look at a project that requires five people and take it on by myself anyway. done it all my life. hauled oversized furniture on my back up and down stairs. tackled projects at work that would have exhausted ten people, all by myself. set about creating things at home that would require several normal people to complete...and yet i seem to think i can do it all by myself.  consequently, i find many unfinished and abandoned projects littering my personal landscape when i look around.

thinking about this, i find myself wondering,"why?" do i look into the face of a daunting project and think, "i can do this!" do i chant in the back of my head a variation of an old snl skit quote, "helpers? i don't need no stinkin' helpers!" or maybe it's just that i've had a lifetime of having to tackle things on my own out of necessity?

my first thought is to resolve to find helpers. but...necessity all too often intervenes and none are to be found when they are needed so i plunge forward and do what i can anyway...

right now, it feels very much like my life has taken a severe turn in this direction! work is pulling me in a thousand directions. attempting to change careers is pulling me in still more. my creative life is taunting me in even more tenuous ways. the remodel in my home is wrenching me is a different direction altogether. i'd need an army to address these properly!! 

so, i sit down. take a deep breath. and take another step into the storm...

namaste'

6 comments:

  1. How timely! I just read a link on facebook by Nat about simplifying our expectations of ourselves to achieve true "productivity" in our lives. Basically, do what is most important to you, and sweep away the rest. Enjoy the down time of doing nothing, and the productive time of the things you find most joy in.

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  2. i'm breathing as fast as i can, deanna! ha!

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  3. oh, cheryl! that sounds wonderful! i'll have to ask nat about that (i'm not on her facebook) and give it a read!

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  4. Hi Joe, that all sounds a bit "life as a whirlwind", you obviously need a pair of Superman underpants. Perhaps you could stitch some!!!

    Be mindful - one thing at a time ...

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  5. oh! i have the same history... something wells up inside me (desire?) and i'm off. sometimes it's been impatience or maybe? control or being unable to articulate to another exactly what the 'plans' are or ???
    simplifying expectation = slowing down maybe? observing nature for a little while offers a little sermon on how that might me done, for me.
    :much love:

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