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Blog entries | Out of time
I should be in bed at this hour but a series of events conspired to keep me away from bed and rest. I will collapse into bed shortly but have to be up super early for a series of appointments on Friday.
It should not be a shock to my battle-worn, 58-year-old body that I’m no longer a young man capable of endless 18-hour days and a whirlwind schedule. Wasn’t supposed to work out that way when we decided to move here to the mountains. This was to be a time for relaxation. That was the plan.
But work, committees, volunteer efforts and a host of other obligations required me to be out every night this week. It wasn’t anything I HAD to do but a growing collections of things I volunteered to do because I had not yet learned the simple art of saying “no.”
While the mind may be willing to take on more than it can handle, the flesh is weak — damn tired in fact — and I’m now saying “hell no, I won’t go.” I’ve stepped down from a vice president’s position of one board this week and will resign from other obligations because I need time to rest, regroup and refocus my efforts in areas where I can be most effective. I’m stretched too thin and have tried to do too much. And when you try to do too much, all you really do is accomplish too little.
David St Lawrence
February 3, 2006 at 11:02 am
Doug,
I am glad you are balancing your priorities. You are absolutely right that we are no longer inexhaustable. Better to do certain things well and enjoy that accomplishment than to expend oneself in vain trying to do everything.
Perhaps it’s time for some reinvention?
maggie
February 3, 2006 at 12:58 pm
I too am an expatriot from the USA now living in SE Asia. I too will never return because my home is gone, replaced by something strange and foreign, even more alien than my new home. It is very hard for me. The small things I took for granted are the things I long for now. Like courtesy on the roads, and friendly strangers who never seemed strange. Despite this, I say to anyone who is reading… “CUT AND RUN NOW! SAVE YOUR ASS!!”
Frank
February 4, 2006 at 9:55 am
Wasn’t it Will Rogers who said “don’t take life too seriously…you’ll never get out of it alive anyway.”
Relax, my friend, and take it easy. You’re earned the rest.
Will
February 3, 2006 at 8:55 am
Doug
I think for some folks your Blue Ridge Muse slogan
“You Can Go Home Again” may be alright.
But, not for me. I live in SE Asia and never intend to return to the land of my birth.
That thought used to disturb me a great deal.
No longer.
So long as there is a federal Republic of the USA, there will be danger to the entire world.
Citizens should abandon any hope of improving the behavior of the monster; rather, they should begin to agitate for their state’s departure from the Republic.
Secession – it’s the future!
Bob
February 3, 2006 at 1:16 pm
Wow! What a surprise the comments bring today. Like the other two commenters, I am also an American ex-pat. And, I also live in SE Asia, in the Philippines to be exact. Again, like the others, I don’t expect to ever live in the USA again. However, that is where the similarities stop. I am proud to be an American, and I thank the good ole USA for the protection that it provides for me, wherever in the world I choose to live. It happens that the area that I live in is a muslim stronghold, but US Soldiers are a regular sight here, and I am happy to see them. When I see an American soldier here, I am friendly and kind to them, because it is comforting to see them here!
God Bless the USA!
Bruce Robinson
February 4, 2006 at 4:50 pm
I firmly believe that if you don’t take control of your life, it will take control of you. I also believe in paying attention to what my body is telling me. May your journey toward doing less better be rewarding to you, and those that care about you.