What a Difference A Day Makes
perhaps attitude is at the root
The last couple of days, witnessed by my posts were not my favorites. As yesterday (relative to this post) wound down, I decided to think about the last couple of days and what I could have done to make them better days. While I don’t know the quotation exactly, I think, after a bit of consideration, I let the last couple of days gets the best of me. I recall an expression something like, you cannot control what happens to you, but you can control your reaction.
It is not constructive to only be critical. In truth, I planned out some connections knowing I would be locked down a bit by my just completed health procedure. I actually did some good things during my little timeout. I thought about what I could change about my attitude and approach to make this go better next time. In reality, all of us know or have known people who face a change in their circumstances in an instant. Whether a sudden loss, an unforeseen illness, a breakdown in a relationship, a loss of a job, life is full of changes large and small. I also think I am so inspired when I witness someone dealing with that sort of change and managing to not let it overwhelm them. It would seem the ones you see coming (changes) like a simple medical test should be the easiest ones to practice an attitude adjustment. It may just come in handy when you least expect it.
So this evening, I decided to begin a draft of these thoughts flying around in my head about my attitude and approach to either the unexpected or just out of the ordinary. What I do know is that regardless of the small challenge of any given day this is a wonderful life. There are those who face much greater challenges. The song I thought of tonight while writing this was about being thankful and having the right perspective. Especially when I consider the challenges that so many people face every day. I hope you like the song and I imagine many of you remember it.
I can already see I am not going to get much further this evening so I will have to finish this tomorrow. That is okay, although I have already scheduled the polar opposite of the last few days for tomorrow. I like being busy. I wasn’t always this way. A better word for me might have been restless. Nowadays as I have gotten older I am more peaceful and like to make the most of each day. I am sure some of the people that know me best might not even notice the difference. However, I have noticed it and I like how it feels.
So tomorrow will be a busy day. I will get to bed early. I need to make up for that lost sleep of the last few nights. Maybe an extra hour or two for a couple of days and I will awaken truly refreshed in a few days. I’m not sure you can actually “bank” extra sleep but I do know that everything is better when I get enough.
Tomorrow, I have set out to get to the following:
Coordinating some repairs at two properties that need attending to including getting a gas line capped, figuring out an intermittent flickering light switch, dealing with a stuck window, and figuring out what to do with a sprayer on the kitchen sink that seems to loosen. I want to avoid replacing the faucet. All pretty modest goals, especially since I am blessed to have found a wonderful handyman who seems capable of almost anything. I hope/expect this to be done by noon.
Finishing the grass and leaf cleanup in the backyard after doing the front and side of the house today. That was finally after napping and bouncing back from this morning. I plan to do this until about 2 pm.
Meet with my creative writing group at 3 pm. I always look forward to that meeting. I think it is more than a coincidence that I FINALLY began this recent habit of daily writing after exposing myself to their influence
I am going to squeeze in some exercise in the afternoon at 5 pm. The tennis season is waning fast. My tennis elbow is still a problem but seems to be getting better. A couple of sets cannot hurt?
I will finish the evening with my History Bookclub at 630 pm. I think we will talk a bit about the nominees for next year’s reading list. It is always fun to speculate what we will read next year.
All of this will be my definition of fun. I am back to my regular diet so I will take stuff to eat in between if I get busy.
I expect to sleep well again tomorrow night. A fun day full of productive and fun stuff. Looking forward to tomorrow is not hard. What I really need to work on is what my days are like when the unexpected or unusual intervenes. Something I hope to have more insight about later tomorrow. Based upon my forecast for the day, I think the post will be late tomorrow. I am going to schedule it now for tomorrow at 930 pm in case I just don’t get back to it. You will know the answer to that question based upon whether there is more writing after THIS.
I just got home at nearly 830 pm and am assessing my day. I am exhausted and perhaps was a bit too busy. Nevertheless, it was productive and I feel good about what happened. My handyman canceled on coming to help with a few projects I had pending. The cancellation came at 837 am while I was hoping to meet him around 900 am. My thought about handling the unexpected came in handy and I am glad. I called the people at the two affected properties and worked out an alternate plan. One of them was quite accomodating and we simply deferred the work to be done. That was very nice of them. That simple adjustment made adapting to the day much easier. I went to the other location and addressed the matters I could handle myself. I addressed a small plumbing issue at the kitchen sink, an intermittent electrical switch in the bathroom and replaced the outdated mercury thermostat with a more modern programmable unit. All in all pretty productive. I arrived around 945 am and finished up around 1230 pm. I am sure the handyman would have been more efficient than me. Nevertheless, I felt good about knocking a few things off the to-do list.
I came home and played with the dog and took him for a nice walk. I had brought him in the car but I needed to get back to eat lunch so we skipped the park. I then made my lunch and ate it while I made a big salad which would serve as my dinner on the road. Even though mine is a pretty well-managed case, diabetes makes for extra planning when I eat. I cleaned up a bit and headed over to my writing group. I am so thankful for that group as they seem to have inspired me to make time for this new commitment of mine, even on a busy day. I truly enjoy it, even on a very busy day. We met at a park pavilion and it was another beautiful early fall day. Next, it was off to play a few sets of tennis. I have such a nice group of friends there also. Even though my case of tennis elbow is not quite perfect yet, I have tried to be a good patient but icing it, drugging it (ibuprofen), and resting it. I have been able to start doing some exercises my brother recommended and I think they are helping. I was about to get started at tennis at 445 pm. When I got there, I ate my big salad and saved my apple for later. I played pretty well and split a couple of sets. Four of the eight decided they wanted more but I was done. One of my friends with whom I share a passion for baseball shared his collection of DVDs, one per year of the World Series since 1946! Really not sure which one to watch first! I hopped in my car and ate the Honeycrisp apple I had packed. Another gift to the world from the University of Minnesota. I still remember trying my first one at the Minnesota State Fair as it was featured in the agricultural building. While I am not a native of this great state, I have found so much to love about it.
Our book club met in an alternate location tonight as our usual room at the library was being used to stage a great annual book sale. While I am exhausted now, I look back on the day as being full of four different and wonderful in their own way interactions with people. The pandemic has deprived us of so much we took for granted. Each of those interactions gets us out in the world and we get to discover again what it means to be human. It was a great day and I expect to sleep well.
I thank all of you for reading and hope you will be back tomorrow.
Mark, This had to have taken more than 20 minutes to write.Well done. How you managed to get all this accomplished in 24 hours is amazing. I imagine you are wearing a tennis elbow brace. What a godsend it was when many moons ago I played racquet ball. Looking back, I am amazed I was ever that mobile.