Big Rocks.

Those of you who have been forced to listen to me while on one of my *many* soapboxes have probably had to endure my rant about "scheduling" and prioritizing my life.  One of the curriculums that I have the pleasure of teaching has a whole section dedicated to learning how to identify "roles" in your life and spend your time according to the ones that matter most.  It's pretty powerful.  Definitely difficult to sit down and think about, but really amazingly helpful and clarifying once you take the time to do it. 
An example of possible "roles" is given in the materials, and looks something like this:

Project Manager
Parent
Spouse
Friend
Soccer Coach
Musician

An admirable list to be sure (or wholesome if nothing else..)  and in fact, my own list is fairly impressive (I think) which is reassuring.  Basically the idea is that you figure out what in your life is worth spending time on and you block out time for those roles (or "big rocks") before the whirlwind of daily life robs you of any and all free time. Like how you never have time for the gym cause you're too busy picking up dry cleaning or you never take that art class because work is crazy and True Blood is on...


(I find it sort of hard to listen to that lady when she's wearing that coat... I sort of want it, is that weird!?)

Anyway.  I can always tell what is filling up my life based on what activities I consider my "Big Rocks" when I plan my week out. The last few weeks have been crammed full of just about anything I could get my hands on, work, lectures, meetings, gym, the barn, drinking, cleaning, making nice with the boy... you name it.

So I just about squealed with delight when I cracked open my planner at the start of this week and saw almost NOTHING on my calendar.  I literally only had to schedule 1) The Trainer and 2) The Therapist. 

Then, because I had so much white space staring at me I scheduled 3) The Happy Hour.  :)

I probably spent about 12 minutes relishing in the stark nakedness of my calendar for the week before I mentally zoomed out and considered my "roles."  It's been a while since I've consciously worked out what roles I need to (or want to) be fulfilling, but I decided that if I chose this particular week to reverse engineer my roles it would be somewhat revealing. (sorta like archeologists who find a small piece of pottery then infer how a whole tribe of people cooked). 

Based on my calendar this week I am:

Obsessive Compulsive (with regards to exercise)
An Alcoholic
A Terrible Cook
Bad Girlfriend

Realistically I would prefer to think of myself as a "motivated" gym goer (palm springs 22 days!), someone who enjoys a well made dirty martini and excellent oysters, a girl attempting to cook more than one night at home and a committed girlfriend willing to spend good $$ on a therapist when she could be purchasing these little beauties... 

Not to mention the new board position for a women's homeless shelter (really, did I need to commit to that??) , coaching (both cute little riders and volleyball) as well as oh... uh sleeping.

If it sounds like I'm complaining.. I'm not.  I'm attempting to relish this small small moment of calm before everything smacks me in the face again and I turn to pinot noir for comfort.

Not that a good pinot has ever disappointed....