There’s No Time Like the Present

Ever heard the expression, “Slow as Christmas?”

I don’t know who said it, but I’m guessing it was a five year-old.

When you’re a kid, time is extraordinarily slow. Just last week, I was talking to my sixth grader, and I wailed, “I can’t believe I only have five and half years left with you in this house. It’s going to go by so fast!”

She stared back at me with blank eyes. Blinking a couple of times, she finally said,

“Five years! Five years! That’s when I was in the first grade. That was F-O-R-E-V-E-R ago!”

And for her, it was.

Nearly half her life to be exact.

But for grownups, the closer we get to the end, the faster those sands pass through the hourglass.

As I write this, we are nearing the end of 2019. Thanksgiving is next week; I haven’t even started thinking about Christmas, and most of the blog posts coming into my inbox have headings like TIME TO BEGIN PLANNING FOR 2020 or BEFORE YOU WASTE ANOTHER SECOND, GET IN THE 2020 MINDSET!

I love planning for the future as much as anybody, but I also want to savor the present moment, an apt sentiment considering all the presents I’ll be buying soon.

I was out shopping last week, and on a chalkboard by the cash register someone had written “38 Days ‘Till Christmas!”

I inhaled deeply, trying to ward off a panic attack. “Thirty eight days” I repeated silently to myself. I flicked through my mental checklist: Christmas cards and decorating the tree and planning for no less than six social events at our house between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day flashed before my eyes.

I inhaled deeply again.

No need to panic.

Thirty eight days is PLENTY of time to get everything done. Right?

Right?

As we near the end of the year, time is not slowing down, and that’s okay. I love this season. People are kind, the world is merry, and generosity is everywhere.

(If you don’t go to Starbucks regularly, you probably should sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas because chances are the guy in front of you in the drive-thru line will pay for your order.)

WINSday on Wednesday

Today’s WINSday on Wednesday inspiration comes from my friend, Melanie Dale. Melanie is one of the busiest people I know. She gets stuff done. Case in point: she’s written three books, and has a fourth one coming out next October. (How many people do you know who wish they could write just one book?)

When Melanie and I were chatting last year during one of our Mission Driven Monday interviews, she told me that one of the things she’s learning in this season is that she has to make time to fill herself up. All that stuff she pours out on the page didn’t come from nowhere. The words are the way she processes her lived experience, but she wouldn’t be able to share the hard stuff if she couldn’t also set aside time to create, dream, and just have fun.

Women are notorious for setting aside their own needs in service to everyone else’s. What if you let yourself stop and think about what it would mean to do something just for you?

In case you need some inspiration, I wrote down some ideas:

Sixty Ways to Save the Day

Eat a honey mint from Trader Joe’s
Bake cookies
Send a postcard to an old friend
Read a children’s book
Drink an affogato
Rock a baby to sleep
Swing on a playground
Organize your medicine cabinet
Make a flower centerpiece for your table
Spray a lovely sleepytime fragrance on your pillow
Dance at a party
Ride your kid’s Big Wheel around the culdesac
Learn how to make homemade pasta
Visit an art museum
Buy something fun at the Dollar Tree
Go to a movie by yourself
Press some pretty leaves between sheets of wax paper
Color a beautiful picture
Watch an inspirational TED talk
Paint something
Go to Home Goods and take photos of things you’d like for your house
Create an afternoon tea party just for you
Learn something new
Look through an old photo album
Practice writing limericks
Practice writing haikus
Try out some new scents
Shop for fun accessories. New earrings!
Draw a map of your life journey
Declutter the junk drawer in your kitchen
Make a personal play list (My new favorite band is the Avett Brothers. They have a song called Kick Drum Heart that I can’t get out of my head!)
Watch a documentary
Listen to an album the whole way through
Play the piano
Celebrate something small
Bake bread
Go on a scavenger hunt
See a foreign film
Set up an indoor herb garden in your kitchen
Organize the books on one of your shelves
Send a letter to a friend
Visit a creative store (art supplies, sewing, music, etc.)
Lay on a trampoline and stare up at the sky
Send a care package to your best friend
Make friends with a fellow creative
Create your own self-portrait
Do a hot yoga class
Check out a book about something you know nothing about
Take a selfie everyday for a week
Make a list of 100 happy things
Make a list of 100 things you love about yourself
Have a technology-free day
Have a silent day
Play your favorite music
Drive aimlessly
Have a picnic at the park
Go to the airport and just people-watch
Visit a graveyard
Go to the hardware store
Put on some snuggly jammies and light a candle

I just gave you sixty ideas, and you can probably think of even more on your own. Heck, we’re just getting started. I thought of five more ideas while I wrote that last sentence.

You might be thinking you don’t have time to do any of the things on this list. The reality is you don’t have time not to! I’ve found (and this has been verified by other creative entrepreneurs) that I am at my most creative and most productive when I set aside a few minutes (or hours) in my day to do something I truly enjoy. If I’m short with my kids or rude to my husband, it’s probably because I’ve spent too much time pouring myself out in service to all the things other people need. When all that’s left is the sludge at the bottom of my soul, you can bet it’s pretty rancid. Nobody deserves to receive that part of me, and so for the sake of everyone, I made the list you see here. If I have an afternoon, I can go on a hike or make that homemade pasta, but if I only have a minute, you will probably find me unwrapping a honey mint.

Trust me—it’s one minute of pure heaven.

And honey mints are perfect for sharing.

If you missed my interview with Melanie, you can catch it here or learn more about the podcast she hosts by visiting www.unexpected.org.