DO IT AGAIN
Another New Year is about to begin, and we are feeling pretty great that we are NOT starting the year by taking down Christmas decorations. We’re not taking down decorations, because we didn’t put any up!
It went something like this.
Three weeks until Christmas . . . “Do you think we should get the Christmas decorations out?”
“Nah, let’s do it next week.”
Two weeks until Christmas . . . “What do you think, single lights or icicle lights for the front?”
“The lights burned out last year—let’s skip the outdoor lights.”
One week until Christmas . . . “This is the last weekend before Christmas. Want to get the decorations out?”
“Whatever we put up, we’ll just have to take down next week!”
And there you have it. After years of dutifully putting up Christmas decorations, this year it came down to the realization that whatever we put up, we would have to take down . . . and it just didn’t seem worth the effort.
If you think about it, this argument can be used for many things. When the kids were home, their favorite argument was about making the bed, and they posed the question, “Why bother making the bed every day when you just have to make it again?”
Although this was true, nonetheless, I still strongly encouraged them to make their beds. There is even a book about starting the day by making your bed, Make Your Bed: Little Things That Can Change Your Life...And Maybe the World by Admiral William H. McRaven. He shared 10 principles that helped him overcome challenges and explained how anyone can use these basic lessons to change themselves and the world for the bette. The book was based on a graduation speech he made that told students that, if they wanted to change the world, they should start each day by making their bed. Now, how can you argue with that?
As a positive-thought junkie, I’m sure I’ve told you that one of my favorite quotes is from S. Truett Cathy, the founder of Chick-Fil-A, who said, “Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.”
I completely agree that you should start each day with an accomplishment—something positive. Making coffee is my perfect start to the day! In fact, I loved Admiral McRaven’s book, which makes what I am about to admit difficult . . .
I don’t make my bed every day.
Sometimes, not even every week . . . and I’ve also told you that the dogs sleep in our bed. So, using the argument my kids used many years ago—Why bother making the bed when the dogs are just going to mess it up?! I kind of pull the covers up over the pillow when I get out of bed, so that one of the dogs isn’t sleeping directly on my white sheets, but that’s it. I jettisoned the decorative pillows years ago. They just ended up on the floor, or if you left them on the bed, you had to scootch down so far to avoid getting a kink in your neck that your feet were hanging off the edge of the bed.
And now Mom guilt is starting to set in . . . What if my kids read this? They’ll know I’m a phony, a poser! They’ll know I’m not following my own advice. And then they might wonder what other things I insisted they do that I quit doing.
They may ask about Folding the Laundry, and I would fail. Like every good mom, I instructed the kids to fold the laundry as soon as possible after removing the clothes from the dryer. That method was the best way to reduce wrinkles. Well, I have recently quit folding the laundry. Why fold it when you can just put the basket in a convenient location and fish out what you need when you need it?
They might also question the practice of rinsing the dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. I’ve quit doing that too. If the dishwasher can’t wash the dishes, then maybe we need a new dishwasher!
The truth is . . . this new stage of my life is flying by way too fast. There are too many important things I’ve been waiting to do. Why spend my time doing mundane and repetitive tasks when I know I will just have to do them again?