"I just wish I had time to . . . !!!"
I made a list of the things that I would like to be doing but am not because of caring for my two small children. The list was full of things like "Wash dishes" , "Fold laundry", "Catch up on tracking finances", and "Pull up that horrible weed growing around my Korean lilac". The list was very long, and I felt daunted and overwhelmed.
I made a second list of the things that I am doing. This list was full of things like "Snuggle with children", "Read to children", "Play with children", "Bake bread" and "Go for a morning run".
Wow, the woman in the second list sounded like she had a much more joyful and worthwhile life than the woman in the first list. My husband, an economist at heart, has high respect for the power of revealed preferences: the second list, by definition, lists my priorities.
But why does my life often feel so hard right now? Then I realized that I had left one activity off of the second list. One activity that takes up a lot of time.
Worrying.
And then I had a brilliant idea: why not move worrying to the other list?
So, I'm trying to not worry about the growing piles of dirty dishes and unfolded laundry and unweeded Korean lilacs and instead focus on how full my life is of snuggling, reading, and playing.
Who knows? Maybe, if I can manage to move worrying to the other list (and while I'm at it, why not guilt and anger, too?), I'll free up five more minutes to do the dishes or - a truly indulgent luxury - to take a daily shower?
