I can honestly say that I have met most of my goals by making them a priority. If you knew me, you might say - as some have - "Well, that was easy for you - you were by yourself and didn't have children or a husband or family to worry about." Maybe, and I do accept that maybe it's easier to pursue your priorities when you don't have other people truly relying on you - but I say maybe because a) although I consider my Prince Charming (PC) and dogs my family, we don't have children so I can't speak as to what that experience is like and b) when you're alone, it's all on --and up to -- you. Of course you have family and friends, but still, to paraphrase former US President Harry Truman, the buck stops with you.
As a former President, I wish I had had access to a blog as great as this!
It may be easier when "alone" because you have the freedom to be ... not necessarily selfish although that may be the correct word, (it just has such a negative connotation) ... but self-oriented. But I digress. I do want to address being self-oriented, but I will save that for a later post.
So where was I? Oh yes, Priorities. I was thinking about priorities because I have a couple of friends that are able to do things I want to do, but can't seem to accomplish, even though they have busy lives. One of those is a friend we shall call Ted.
Ted lives in a big, beautiful, pristine three floor town home with his partner, commutes over an hour to work, has an active social life, and somehow manages to keep that town home SPOTLESS. I mean, his floors are cleaner than most people's plates. I have always had an issue with my house not being as clean as I would like it. Don't get me wrong -- if you're invited over, you would usually see something as organized as this:
This is not my living room, but isn't it well organized and neat?
No fingerprints or dust on THAT coffee table!
What you won't see, unless you walk around opening closets and peeking under bedskirts (and some of our relatives do!), is where we've quickly stashed things that we don't know where to put. AND, if you happen to drop in unannounced you might catch us how we truly are ... much like animals in their natural environment:
Our desk is not as neat as this one, I sadly promise you
It bothers me that my house isn't spotless and that everything doesn't have its place and it isn't always "sure, just drop in" ready. While I would like to blame this on PC and his habits, I cannot. When I lived alone, I always had little piles of things everywhere until my weekly cleaning fit would hit me. It doesn't bother me if other people's houses aren't all neat and orderly, just mine, and I envy those whose are. So when I saw Ted the other day, I asked him how he does it. "You have a long commute, you are busy, you have an active social life and are super busy. How do you keep your home so clean and neat?"
His reply: "My house is clean because I'd be more stressed if it wasn't. I prioritize it as important."
There it is ladies and gentlemen, the A-HA moment I had. He PRIORITIZES it as important. And a priority, according to a search on Google, is:
Search Results
pri·or·i·ty
/prīˈôrətē/
Noun- A thing that is regarded as more important than another.
- The fact or condition of being regarded or treated as more important.
Synonymsprecedence - preference - precedency - primacy
I always say or think, "I wish I had more time" but, truth be told, I have the time when I get home from work, just not always the energy. We sit and watch On Demand (we still don't know when Vikings is really on but we love it!) and basically waste the evening away. Is that more important to me than other things I'd like to do? No, but you would think it was considering that is how I spend a lot of my time on weekdays.
I'm the star of the awesome show Vikings on the History Channel. I DARE you
to blame me when you visit the Fairy Godmother's home and it's not picture perfect!
If vegging out in front of the tele is what matters to you, no judgements, truly! I am not you, so who am I to judge. Oh gentle reader, being the SMART, gentle readers you are, you might say,
"But that is relaxation time for you; time for you to spend with handsome PC and the dogs,
watching good looking Vikings fight and live and try to appease their gods as you share your day's adventures!"
And it is. I'm not saying it's not important, but there are new goals I want to accomplish, and I need to focus on making them priorities again. It's quite possible I could combine items -- for example, one of my goals is to get in better shape. So perhaps PC and I could spend that time together exercising rather than watching the tube. Let's be realistic -- I am sure just collapsing on the couch and being mindless will be my priority of certain days, or even weeks ... but overall, I need to start focusing on and defining what my priorities truly are and how to accomplish them. If that means finding the time, energy, money, whatever, to make them happen, then so be it. If it's important to me, I must find a way.
So today's learning (thanks Ted): Think about what your goals are. Then ask yourself if you've made any of them priorities. If not, why not? And what are your priorities? Are they truly YOURS or put upon you by some other source?
If you have any thoughts or advice to share, please do.
Until our next blog time together, I bid you adieu.
Fairy Godmother
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