Mind Shift Mondays

I procrastinate. It’s not due to lack of drive or inability to get the job done. I procrastinate because my sense of time management is ruled by deadlines. If my due date is in a week, I will put out all the fires that are happening in the moment and then I will squeeze my project in; barely making the deadline. I’m not proud about this but it is how I operate.

Lately, I have been making a conscious effort to lighten my load on Mondays in order to spare being up all night writing my blogs. My internal and unofficial deadline to myself is to have a post published at 6am every Tuesday morning. I stick to this regimen of making sure to post every Tuesday because I know if I let one week slide, I will let months slide. I also know that if I don’t post on Tuesday mornings, I will find excuses and priorities that will take precedence over my passion and my mission to keep thoughtfulness going. Sometimes I am up until 4am just to ensure that my deadline is met. I don’t see myself stopping anytime soon because I’m on a 5.5 year streak and it’s part of who I am these days.

Speaking of loads, I do laundry once a week and for many years I did the laundry on Mondays. About 3 weeks ago I finally had the light bulb moment that Mondays were too busy to do laundry and I shifted laundry day to Tuesdays. Lol. One week after that change, it moved to Wednesdays. Of course, Wash Day Wednesday (the kids gagged)! Even though I took laundry off my Monday docket, I get frustrated because the day gets filled with other little things that take me away from writing. For example, today my neighbor needed help and I really wanted to help her because she never asks for anything. She is someone who doesn’t procrastinate and therefore often has ample time to help me. When she asked for help today, I looked at my blank calendar, which was blank for a reason; I reserve Mondays for writing this blog. I decided to help. When I first sat down to listen to her, I thought about my blank post. Surprisingly, it didn’t take much for my attention to focus back on my neighbor. It was a total mind shift {side note: On Instagram I use the hashtag #MindshiftMonday - another reason for my kids to gag}. I quickly thought: What if I didn’t have time to do this? What if I worked in an office and had to say no? Not only would I be missing out on helping her, but this was an opportunity to have a little part in a process that she was going thru which could possibly lead to her being appointed as a judge! The mind shift helped me realize that this was an honor not an obligation, distraction or burden.

When I returned home from helping my neighbor, my mom needed help. Not help in the way of doing actual work but she needed me to put things into perspective. I could sense her anxiety; she was feeling like the world was crashing around her. It was helpful to break down the scenarios so that she could get a better handle on things. When she realized that the worst case scenario would be to continue what she is currently doing, she started to breathe easier because what she is doing is fine. I reminded her that if things worked out, the only way was up and if they didn’t, things would remain the same; they would not get worse. She began to relax because she had a clearer picture of what was happening. Although it didn’t take much time to do this, I couldn’t really focus on my work after that because I came to the realization that my mom is aging and although it is perfectly normal for her to feel anxiety about her finances or the refunds from cancelled trips due to Covid, it means I am going to have to watch over her a little more.

Anyway, after helping those two, add dropping off my daughter for tennis, mailing an already late birthday gift, dropping off the last part of our tax papers, then picking up my daughter from tennis and finally making dinner. The day was gone. Where did that leave me? Scrambling to get something written by a decent hour (I’d be happy if I could finish by midnight). Btw, my son has hockey practice at 9p so I needed to break away from writing in order to drive him.

When all is said and done, even though I’m up past midnight writing, this Monday’s mind shift is important to me for two reasons: 1. I was able to identify the blessing - I have the time to help others. Writing my blog is not essential and since I don’t make money, I am not losing any by helping others. 2. Helping others is an honor and a great experience.

Don’t be fooled - I’m no saint. The Type A in me always feels out of control when my day doesn’t go as planned; especially my Mondays. Today I yelled at my kids and since I had no control over how quickly time was going by, I found myself washing dishes (instead of writing) because everything else seemed so out of place. Yes, I had to make a conscious effort to shift my mind before I came to this conclusion and yes, I am fully aware that this will always be a work in progress.

I think this passage by Charles Swindoll, shared by my hub’s Uncle Norm, spoke to me years ago. This thoughtful pinch hangs on my fridge and has had some influence in why I think mind shifts (attitudes) are related to thoughtfulness.

When I began this Mind Shift Monday theme or “movement” as part of my Thoughtful Pinch Instagram TV (IGTV) series, I was thinking that I would be enlightening followers with little ways to think about things differently. For example: think about small gestures versus large ones when helping the front line during Covid or instead of being bothered that someone sent us a chain letter, be glad that we were thought of. I have put together weeks of one minute videos sharing mind shifts like these. To my surprise, I started to realize that most of these mind shifts are really my own awarenesses that I needed to see things differently and share them. I don’t always have the answers for when we should shift our minds; I am finding them with you.

Pinches,

Barb