26 hours
Some random thoughts about time and obligations and feeling life is pretty full at times: I'm a pretty even tempered person. My grown daughter recently told me that I've mellowed quite a bit since she was a teenager and she said that the students I teach part-time now get the calmer person that I am. Of course, it's easy to be calmer when you don't have a teenager or two or three in the house! And when it seems you can't find enough hours in the day to get everything done. (I know from Kathy Fuller's blog this week that she can relate as can Beth and Amy!)
But even mellow me can get a bit aggravated when I work so many hours on my writing and have someone walk up to me like one of my creative writing class students and say, "If I had time I could write a book, too." Like that's all it takes -- more time than this female student feels she has. Well, everyone gets the same twenty-four hours but some of us stay up late after working jobs, get up early before going to jobs, or even if we're a full-time writer, we write on top of the family responsibilities we all have. One man actually came up to me once and said he'd heard I was a writer and asked, "So what do you do? Write some words down on a piece of paper and send them to an editor and they buy 'em?" Well, good thing he asked me this after church service. Not sure I could have been polite otherwise...
I admire the Old Order Amish for their calm, Christ filled lives and seeming contentment with the hours they're given. It's not that we need more hours ... after all, someone would just find a way to get to us and ask us to do more, anyway. : )
What do you do when you're feeling you need more time?
'Til next week!
Barbara
But even mellow me can get a bit aggravated when I work so many hours on my writing and have someone walk up to me like one of my creative writing class students and say, "If I had time I could write a book, too." Like that's all it takes -- more time than this female student feels she has. Well, everyone gets the same twenty-four hours but some of us stay up late after working jobs, get up early before going to jobs, or even if we're a full-time writer, we write on top of the family responsibilities we all have. One man actually came up to me once and said he'd heard I was a writer and asked, "So what do you do? Write some words down on a piece of paper and send them to an editor and they buy 'em?" Well, good thing he asked me this after church service. Not sure I could have been polite otherwise...
I admire the Old Order Amish for their calm, Christ filled lives and seeming contentment with the hours they're given. It's not that we need more hours ... after all, someone would just find a way to get to us and ask us to do more, anyway. : )
What do you do when you're feeling you need more time?
'Til next week!
Barbara
Posted by Barbara Cameron at 9/10/2009 7:41 PM 
Categories: novellas, An Amich Christmas, One Child
Tags: Amish fiction
Categories: novellas, An Amich Christmas, One Child
Tags: Amish fiction
If I felt I needed more time, I think I'd evaluate my schedule to see exactly what I was doing with it. And look to see if there was anything I could eliminate from it. I think I read or heard somewhere once that a person should prioritize their time and drop the mediocre and the good and just keep the best. I think what happens in families with children is that the parents sign them up for too many extracirricular activities when just one would be best.
Reply to this
Gail,
I give up housecleaning quite often to save time but then have to scramble around when the realtor calls and wants to show the house...otherwise I don't have a lot to discard but I "get" what you're saying.
And I agree about kids are over-scheduled.
Reply to this
I freak then I take a deep breath & remind myself that God doesn't give us more than we can handle!
Reply to this
A lot of us are too busy being busy. Look at the schedule see what is really important. Learn to say NO to some people. Life goes by in a heart beat make sure you are spending your time on those who need you and those you need. That is where the Amish have true peace. They are not busy being busy. They are busy being family,neighbor,friend.
Reply to this
You know, Barbara, I often wonder that myself.. Where do we get more time to do the things we need to do?
And it's like the more you do the more they want you to do..
I say we do what we can with the time we have to do with and do the best that we can do.
Reply to this
Rose,
Years ago the principal at the school my kids attended tried to talk me into serving as PTA president. He was one of those men who saw women in very traditional ways and didn't take it seriously that I was writing full-time at home. I said I was very busy. He said busy people got things done. I said well, I guess I've been lazy...I could go to four hours of sleep a night instead of five...He definitely was one of those people who would push to take up your time...
Reply to this
Barbara,
What I do as you probably know is keep on going, pray, find a moment here or there to deep breathe, a nap is never turned down (I'm retiring but this was always true and needed by me), ask for help or delegate if it's possible, keep joy, peace and love always thru Him.
Reply to this
Judith,
I liked the last part of what you said -- keep joy, peace, and love always thru Him.
Reply to this
Erin,
Good points indeed -- especially about people being busy being busy...
Reply to this