It is good to work on the meaningful things at the edges of your everyday. Even if it only adds a little calm to the way you approach the rest of the dailiness. It’ll build less frantic into the way you get things done and more just getting things done because it is what you do. It’s less a fight and more a dance between all the things required of you and the way you want to be.
Do this soul-fulfilling thing.
Gather up the dishes.
Load the dishwasher.
Think about another thing.
Fold the laundry.
Put away the clothes.
Read outside
Break up a fight.
Read some bedtime stories.
Put the kids to bed.(*)
Solve some more problems that feel meaningful and lead to more space inside your head for all the other things required of you.
Sometimes choosing that little extra thing can make life feel less complicated, more soulful, or more meaningful.
Even if it’s only all around the edges of the everyday average middles.
(*Disclaimer: This approach will not magically shorten your day or make your kids sleep when you tell them to. This list of tasks is not an actual factual day. This example day was shortened for brevity’s (and sanity’s) sake. An actual day would include about 27 negotiations after bedtime before any post-bed problem-solving would occur. Put your mind at ease. You are doing a great job. Even if bedtime is a disaster zone.)
Erika Shirk 