I’m pulling no punches today. It’s Monday and typically the day some of us need a little motivation.
Perhaps the house is upside-down after a weekend of play and crafting? Maybe the washing basket is overflowing? Did everything get done this weekend as planned, or are you starting this new work week on the back foot? The Friday feeling may seem a million miles away. Post weekend energy levels could be at an all time low.
This Monday I’m posting a wake up call.
Recently I shared Oliver Sacks essay, he wrote last month, on learning he has terminal cancer. You can read it here.
“I feel a sudden clear focus and perspective. There is no time for anything inessential. I must focus on myself, my work and my friends.” Oliver Sacks (British Neurologist and Author)
Facing serious illness, or dare I say it, death, focuses the mind. It puts everything in perspective.
“When I became ill the years of pain and confusion loomed up like some primitive monster of the deep…I lived in fear of dying. The strange paradox is that by confronting my fear of death, I found myself and created a new life.” Lucia Capacchione (American Art Therapist)
Ones mortality can be the greatest motivator.
As Buddha may have said “The trouble is we think we have time.”. I say ‘may’ as it’s one of those quotes that gets thrown around but whether it was ever said…? But whoever said it, it’s true.
Putting something off? Just do it. Don’t wait. Do it this week.
Please.
**Warning. I’m now going to link to one of my all time favourite articles, because it’s very relevant and the only article I have ever read that suggests facing your mortality in such an unusual way to beat procrastination. It’s written by Chuck Palahiuk. If you know of Chuck (author of Fight Club) you know this isn’t going to be a comfortable read. It talks about suicide, but it also offers advice on the three C’s – Clean, Cull and Connect**
Live Like You’re Dying – Chuck Palahniuk
Don’t worry it’s a simple and healthy recipe on Wednesday. That’s as deep as I’m getting this week.
This was a fabulous post to read first thing in the morning! Thanks. I needed some motivation.
This was a fabulous post to read first thing in the morning! Thanks. I needed some motivation.
I’m pretty happy about my weekend. It was gorgeous and I could have been lounging around ad not done anything since my spouse is out of town, but I looked at the weather report and decided that I was going to garden and accomplish x, y and z. I gardened both days, accomplished everything that I had set to do and more, and even went on an outing with my son and took some time to relax on the patio with a book.
Mondays are usually my most productive days: kids are back in school, hubby goes back to work, and I do a lot of my chores that morning: laundry, baking, straightening out the house… I actually like Monday mornings because it’s the promise of a new beginning every week and an opportunity to make progress. However, as I have said before, I’m great with plans and not so much with the execution so it’s routinely the other 4 days of the week that are usually a problem for me.
I haven’t read the articles you linked to but I’ve been “living like you’re dying” in some areas of my life although not with the same intensity and focus as I would be, I would imagine, were I really diagnosed with an end-of-life illness. But documenting my family’s history (including my own) to pass down to my children (who have little to no connection to my family back in France), archiving photos and stories of their childhood for them, making sure my husband would know how to access all of our accounts were something to happen to me unexpectedly (I handle pretty much everything and everything comes to me electronically), are projects that I work on sporadically.
Working at paying off our mortgage early is part of this too: I’ve always been terrified of being homeless and not having a mortgage to pay would be a huge relief, especially if we had to face a major illness, loss of my husband’s job.
I’m pretty happy about my weekend. It was gorgeous and I could have been lounging around ad not done anything since my spouse is out of town, but I looked at the weather report and decided that I was going to garden and accomplish x, y and z. I gardened both days, accomplished everything that I had set to do and more, and even went on an outing with my son and took some time to relax on the patio with a book.
Mondays are usually my most productive days: kids are back in school, hubby goes back to work, and I do a lot of my chores that morning: laundry, baking, straightening out the house… I actually like Monday mornings because it’s the promise of a new beginning every week and an opportunity to make progress. However, as I have said before, I’m great with plans and not so much with the execution so it’s routinely the other 4 days of the week that are usually a problem for me.
I haven’t read the articles you linked to but I’ve been “living like you’re dying” in some areas of my life although not with the same intensity and focus as I would be, I would imagine, were I really diagnosed with an end-of-life illness. But documenting my family’s history (including my own) to pass down to my children (who have little to no connection to my family back in France), archiving photos and stories of their childhood for them, making sure my husband would know how to access all of our accounts were something to happen to me unexpectedly (I handle pretty much everything and everything comes to me electronically), are projects that I work on sporadically.
Working at paying off our mortgage early is part of this too: I’ve always been terrified of being homeless and not having a mortgage to pay would be a huge relief, especially if we had to face a major illness, loss of my husband’s job.
I, like Nathalie above, find Mondays to be pretty productive. I don’t know about living as though you’re dying. I try to do stuff rather than put it off anyway. I find though, that I have a great deal more plans than I have time to fulfil them, so I have to prioritise and put the rest off for some future date. I think its more important to live life fully now and be here for my children, but that isn’t about living as though I’m dying, it’s more about living life as though they are growing up really fast… because they are!
I, like Nathalie above, find Mondays to be pretty productive. I don’t know about living as though you’re dying. I try to do stuff rather than put it off anyway. I find though, that I have a great deal more plans than I have time to fulfil them, so I have to prioritise and put the rest off for some future date. I think its more important to live life fully now and be here for my children, but that isn’t about living as though I’m dying, it’s more about living life as though they are growing up really fast… because they are!
Thanks, I needed this!
Thanks, I needed this!
I haven’t read his essay, but where i am on placement i see death in it’s entirety most days. I have watched families as they watch their loved ones slip away and i have watched people die who are not ready to. Total Pain( a real, end of life state) rarely has anything to do with not doing the laundry or cleaning the car, but everything to do with unresolved human interactions. In both cases both patients and families are remembering relationships and feelings. Never ‘stuff’ or lack of. Yeah sure it’s part of life to do the laundry, go shopping, and clean the car. But don’t put off coffee with your friend, visit to your mother or a walk in the park with your loved one in order to do it (I’m guilty of this-no more). So do it today, reach out and be truly present in the people that matter to you.
Brilliant thought provoking post Jo!
Sharron x
I haven’t read his essay, but where i am on placement i see death in it’s entirety most days. I have watched families as they watch their loved ones slip away and i have watched people die who are not ready to. Total Pain( a real, end of life state) rarely has anything to do with not doing the laundry or cleaning the car, but everything to do with unresolved human interactions. In both cases both patients and families are remembering relationships and feelings. Never ‘stuff’ or lack of. Yeah sure it’s part of life to do the laundry, go shopping, and clean the car. But don’t put off coffee with your friend, visit to your mother or a walk in the park with your loved one in order to do it (I’m guilty of this-no more). So do it today, reach out and be truly present in the people that matter to you.
Brilliant thought provoking post Jo!
Sharron x