Setting Intentions
March 2023 Slice of Life challenge
Does anybody put the phone up to their ear anymore?
I find that it is a nuisance. I can imagine that those around me find it a nuisance too. I hold the phone flat 12 inches from my face. I speak out into the air towards it. The voice of the person on the other line blares out at me in response. Anyone may hear. I find it entertaining to eavesdrop when others partake this way. It’s a glimpse into someone else’s life. Like a bonus reality show. I can see how others would not feel the same. That these public conversations are rather uninteresting or an interruption to their daily flow. Which side to you fall on?
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My daughter recently turned 15. She wanted to go to the DMV and get a learners permit on her birthday. I gave my daughter a choice. You can wait in line for 3 hours on your birthday or you can let me make an appointment for another day and not have to wait in line. I crossed my fingers. And to my good luck she chose to wait a week and go to a DMV with an appointment.
I have never gone to the DMV with an appointment before. I had minimal hope that this visit would be any better than any other time I've been to the DMV. The last time I went I waited in line outside for 3 hours before advancing to the lines inside. While I was an hour deep into the line a DMV worker said that I was missing a document. Luckily I had enough time to get someone to bring me what I needed while I waited in line. I will never get those 3 hours back. This time was different. The line outside the door was no more that 5 people deep. You could only come to this location if you had an appointment. I was thrilled that were were inside in less than 5 minutes because it was 18 degrees outside. There were 5 different lines we had to advance through but there was very minimal waiting. There was only one person in line before us at any one time. I was pleasantly surprised. We had to drive to a location a bit further from our house, but it was worth it to have an appointment and to barely wait in line. You can be sure that I will do it this way next time. I highly recommend it. This is about the time each year when I start to think about what I should do with my spring break. When I don’t have a vacation planned I always worry that I will be lazy by sleeping in, laying around, and binging on tv and movies. I make a list of things that could be accomplished and vow to do at least one productive item each day of spring break. Here is my yearly don’t waste your spring break list. Some are self care items and the others are tasks that are too daunting to accomplish when I have work on my plate at the same time.
Read a book Walk the dog each day Practice Yoga 3-4xs Clean out the fridge/freezers Clean out my closet Clean Car inside/out Plan my capsule wardrobe Make Goodwill donations Clean up the garage Purge items from the attic I went back and reread my post from last year and there are a lot of similarities. It looks like cleaning my fridge and car are regulars on the spring break to do list. I am 16 years away from the possibility of retirement. Is it weird that I know this, think about it a bunch and try to prepare for it? It’s not because I don’t enjoy teaching or want out or anything. It’s because I am someone who likes to be educated and prepared to things right.
I read up about service credits, formulas, benefits etc. I even made a spreadsheet that tracks each year, how old I will be and how many sick days I have the potential to accrue over the next 16 years. I read the retirement section of my contract to understand the bonuses even though there will be several more contract revisions before my retirement year. I was even excited to share with my husband over dinner how it all works. He’s in another retirement system for teachers and I am excited to look into that one too. I am thankful for the security it offers and for me to understand it and prepare for it is the least I can do to give it the respect it deserves. I currently don’t have an opinion on whether or not daylight savings is something we should continue to keep in practice or not. I know there are a lot of opinions on the matter. Right now I have none.
What I do have however, are some observations about how this past weekend's spring ahead has made me feel. When the daylight hours are longer in the evening it gives my mind and body the cue that there are still productive hours left in the day. I am able to get more things done and feel that I have the energy to do them. Even though the amount of time is the same I feel like I have more. In contrast, when darkness came a lot earlier in the day the cues were such that I felt that I was working too long, out too late and should have already collapsed in bed a long time ago. Even though it's an hour lost, this year I am welcoming the time change. I have been thinking for a while that I want to create a capsule wardrobe for myself. A capsule wardrobe consists of a minimal amount of clothing pieces that are color coordinated. The result is the ability to create many outfits from a few pieces. The pieces I'd choose would be functional, comfortable, yet crisp enough to look put together for work each day.
I like the idea of purging almost everything in my closet and starting fresh with only a few higher end, simple items. I imagine having a minimalist's closet with the ability to move the hangers from one side to the other. Then sliding the hangers back to their evenly spaced places after selecting my outfit for the day. At first researching capsule wardrobes was inspiring, but after awhile it became daunting. What color scheme should I use? What pieces do I need to get started? What stores are the best to find these items? Then I get overwhelmed and quit trying to make my capsule wardrobe happen. I wish I could just order up one capsule wardrobe, please. The. trouble is having to curate it all myself. Fashion is not in my wheelhouse, which is why I desire a formula to follow for picking out what to wear. I need a decision free wardrobe if you will, but in order to get that I need to make decisions. So here I am. still thinking about how I'd like a capsule wardrobe and not taking any action to make it happen. I was asked to write a blurb about myself for possible yoga website content. So here I am two birds w one stoning it.
A’s yoga journey began in 2013 when she looked to yoga to help her sustain her long distance running addiction. She fell in love and wanted to deepen her practice as well as share yoga with others. She received her 200 hour Baptist Power Vinyasa training in August of 2016. After severe injuries to her hip and knee stopped her from running, yoga became her true companion. As a result of these injuries A is well versed in modifications and the use of props. This strengthened not only her own practice but her ability to help other yogis. She currently teaches a weekly yoga class to her colleagues at the elementary school where she teaches music. Her lucky K-6 students also benefit from from daily yoga. She is honored to be available to sub classes at S Yoga. I was reading my students a story and there was a picture of horses with blinders on the sides of their eyes. And the students asked me, “Why do the horses have their eyes covered up?”
And I answered, “They can see but the blinders only allow them to see what is directly in front of them. If we took off the blinders the horses could see what was in their peripheral.” And that got me thinking. This is what many of us are doing. We have blinders on and if we just had the courage to remove them we would see what’s in the peripheral. With the blinders on we are not looking all around us. I pray that you take your blinders off and really look at what is in the peripheral and you will see what I see. I simply cannot give up until all of our eyes are opened to the peripheral. Then we will see the evidence that will guide us to the truth. If you are someone who has your blinders off or someone who is willing to take them off, I am here too. I am not free. I am well aware that I am not free. It’s because of this awareness that I know my soul has been devoured, mutilated and spit out. It barely lingers inside me anymore. I’m not sure, has it withered away? Is there anything left there worth saving? If it isn’t already, soon it will be gone. My body while still visible is merely a thin shell, only for appearances.
I am not free. Someone else owns me. I no longer belong to myself. I guess that’s okay if I am no longer really myself. I proceed through each day with someone else’s evil agenda guiding me. I lost the will to fight against it. I have no choices. I don’t know what’s on the other side but I’m thinking that this is hell. An exciting day at school is a day my principal declares a jeans day.
Why does that excite me? It is easier to dress in the morning without the worry that I have to make an outfit work. Decision fatigue is a real thing. Everything goes with jeans. This day offers relief. I need It. I am as far from a fashionista as one can be. I can look professional while wearing jeans. Wearing jeans does not compromise my teaching skills. It makes me a better teacher because it raises my morale and my colleague's too. Make every day jeans day please. I promise you the results will be desirable . |
AMRK-6 Music Teacher Archives
March 2022
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