My Mate says I have “horizontal space disease.” When I see a flat surface, I want to put something on it. It’s just occurred to me that this malady extends to my calendar as well.
I just got back from a 2-night camping trip. No big deal, except that I went straight to bed from the ferry boat home, got up the next morning @ 3 to work, came home to nap, went to a wedding, went to bed, got up @ 3 again, napped, stayed up till 11 playing music with friends, went to bed…
…and woke up to find that my part of the camping gear is still draped over the couch after THREE DAYS.
Oops. Sorry, babe. I’ll take care of that right away…
…after I catch up on laundry, email, blogging, exercise, harvesting my garden, cooking, and filling up my calendar for the rest of my week.
Worth all the clutter it took to get here.
You may see a problem here. I don’t. I LOVE living this way. Hectic? Yup. I practically got my daily workout this morning just flitting around the house from one task to another. But boring? Never. That hike we took wended us through gardens of wildflowers too numerous to name. Having almost-too-much on my calendar makes me feel like that: ooh, pretty! Oh, I get to do that too! Ooh, and look what’s coming!
Yes, please!
I do, of course, crave some peace & quiet in all the forward motion. But that’s what long bike rides are for, or walks, or sitting and singing, or writing in my journal. Long conversations with friends also help ground me. So I make time for all that. That’s why everything else feels so crowded! I want it all; I get it all. And I feel it all.
Oh, and the revisions to Chapter One I was working on before I went camping? Yeah…I’ll get back to those. Tomorrow. Really.
Do I recommend this lifestyle? No; one lives this way by nature, I think, not choice. Do I need to keep balance in mind, and be especially deliberate not to impinge my chaos on my Mate’s quieter, simpler style? Absolutely. I try. That’s why the couch is finally clean of gear. 🙂
How’s about you guys? Who’s a whirlwinder out there, like me? Who would go nuts living like this? Any words of wisdom to share?
Wing's World 
I do have a pretty demanding tech job. I take Italian at the Italian Institute in SF (looove the language!). I sing opera (working towards a performance in about 10 days) and take voice lessons every week. I do Gregorian chant and renaissance polyphony in church most Sundays. I try to get out to Stinson Beach (a 45-minute drive) every weekend with my wetsuit. And, although this may not be fun, it consumes a lot of my time: managing a chronic illness (autoimmune-related) — which means in-home nursing visits, doctor’s appointments, various healers western and non-western. The result of this self-imposed whirl is my bed almost never gets made, and there are papers on my desk and dining-room table from months ago. Another result is I pay somebody to do my laundry and deep-clean the house.
John, you sound like me: I recognize that “self-imposed whirl.” Kudos to you for finding a way to balance & manage, especially in the face of illness. I don’t have that additional burden (yet), so I probably have something to learn from you.
Lorna here. I probably WOULD go nuts living like that. (And have done it in the past.) But I recognize that I NEED breathing space and time to consider and reflect and just “be.” Maybe it’s an age thing. Or just that we’re all wired differently. Isn’t it nice that we don’t all like or need the same things?!
I am interested in the “age thing,” for sure. Could you do me a favor and check back in with me in 15 years to see if I’ve slowed down any?