Monday Madness - The Mad Juggler

The need to juggle comes about when you have more than one item for which you are responsible and not enough time to deal with it. Each item requires your full attention during the time in which you are responsible for it. When you have multiple responsibilities, you realize that though you are in charge of an item, you don't have time to focus exclusively upon it. So you give it your all for a finite amount of time and then, knowing you have to let go of it, set it on a predictable trajectory from which you can later recover control of it. Only to let go of that control once more: ad infinitum.

That's my life. That's everybody's life. So what I am currently juggling is the care and feeding of a marital relationship (literally); the raising of healthy, intelligent, kind and thoughtful men; maintenance of two homes (ours and Grandad's) and three cars; chorus (learn the music before we go over it... sell lots of tickets... volunteer...); weight loss, despite very low metabolism and doctors telling me to give up (includes careful dietary planning plus continual exercise regimes, oh, and migraines which seem to make me ravenous!); rest and relaxation; and finally, my favorite – genealogy. But then genealogy subdivides into a plethora of sub-categories: volunteer organizations like DAR and APG; self-education; networking; client work; writing; and documenting my own family.

No wonder I'm always behind! I think from now on I can never ever take on anything new. I have enough projects right now to last me until I die, even if that comes at age 109. I want desperately to simplify, but that means never having the thrill of starting a new project. What fun is that? It reminds me of the stash of yarn in my cupboard. I have loads of yarn I purchased at phenomenal prices, with the idea  that someday I could make a high end scarf, baby outfit, sweater, vest or socks, because I got a great deal on foofy yarns. But once you look at that yarn on a regular basis for six months or so, the thrill is gone, Baby. Even knitting feels like a chore! That is just wrong! So last Saturday I bought two balls of expensive yarn because I wanted to make a scarf with flecks of color that match my eyes. Oh, brother!

So what does this have to do with genealogy? Nothing much except to say that I have been neglecting my client work while I get all of these other things into their trajectories. It's hard to explain to people what I do every day because I dance around between laundry and car inspections to Boy Scout merit badges to booking nationally known speakers for our chapter of APG. Aunty Tealy, of whom I have spoken in earlier blog posts, told me yesterday not to be such a perfectionist. But if you don't try, you don't even get close. So I have to keep on trucking and hope that soon I catch a break and everything will just run smoothly.

I want to find a way to simplify that won't take away that zing of excitement that comes when starting something new. I just have to reframe the discussion, that's all.

I forgot about blogging. You may have noticed that I haven't written in about eleven days. This is not a laudable trait in a blogger. When I was blogging last month, I was a bit rabid about it. Ideas came flying into my head. I thought people might be interested in my ideas. This month. Nuthin'.

I'm going to try and get back on track, but I feel a bit of paralysis because another Kimmitt male is about to enter the household for a month, and that jacks up the speed of juggling quite a bit. So bear with me while I plant my feet, gird my loins and breathe!

I miss blogging and hope I still have something interesting to say to anyone who cares to drop by. Thanks!