This week has been interesting… and busy (did you miss me?)
I’m teaching my two writing classes at the college, preparing for spring chicken workshops, getting out articles, reviewing a book, all while I hold the home fort down.
I’m also doing a 10-day medical cleanse suggested by my Lyme doc to “detoxify” (it consists of a very limited diet – fruit, veggies, fish and beans – while taking vitamin and nutrient supplements.) I’m on day 7 of 10 and while it’s not difficult, it does include planning.
And then add to that I’ve signed up for a 40-day yoga challenge where I commit to doing yoga and meditation each day for 40 days (I’m on day 18 of that.) Sounds good, right? It is, except that each week the yoga increases by 15 minutes and the meditation by 5 minutes until the last week, where we’ll be doing two 30 –minute meditation practices and one 90-minute yoga practice *each* day. Who had time to do all that?
I surely don’t.
It’s funny because on the first day of the yoga challenge when we met as a class, almost everyone talked about how busy they are and how they don’t have the time to spend doing things for themselves – everyone else came first. And yet there we were, all agreeing to 40 days of incredible time commitments.
This entire experience reminds me of one of my all-time favorite children’s books – Sad Mrs. Sam Sack.
Mrs. Sam Sack has animals, lots of land, a Mr. Sam Sack, and ten children. She also has a small house, but she was always sad because she felt she never had enough room in her house. She decides to seek out the local wise man Dad Gum who, she thought, would be able to help her get a bigger house.
When she visits him, he tells her to put her 10 rabbits in the house. She does but she’s still sad.
Next he tells her to put the 10 chickens in her house, she does but she’s still sad, because her house is too little.
It’s not working she tells Dad Gum. It will, he says, now put your 10 pigs in the house.
Followed the next day by her 10 cows.
By now Mrs. Sam Sack is not sad anymore, she’s mad. She can’t dust, she can’t mop, and she can’t cook for her family because of all the animals in her house. She stomps over to Dad Gum’s house.
Take the cows out, he tells her.
It helps, but not that much.
Now remove the pigs.
And the next day the chickens.
And then the rabbits.
When all of the animals are removed, Mrs. Sam Sack realizes how much space she really had in the first place.
She sits back in her rocking chair and enjoys her little house which is just the right size for her to dust, mop, and cook for her family. She realizes that Dad Gum *is* a wise man after all and he did help her to find a bigger house.
I have a feeling that once my cleanse, yoga challenge, and college classes are over, I’m going to discover just how much time I have in my days to do what really needs to get done.
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Wendy Thomas writes about the lessons learned while raising children and chickens in New Hampshire. Contact her at [email protected]
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