It was sunny today in Lansing, and it’s been about a week since the last sunny day.
This pretty much normal for winter in Michigan. I was sitting in the waiting room at my therapist’s office yesterday thinking about my answers to the usual questions: How’s my mood been lately? Have I been sleeping okay?
November has been really cloudy, and it’s reflected in my mood. Yes, I spend an hour with my artificial sunshine every day, and yes, I’m taking vitamin D. The thought came to me as I was sitting: I better schedule some unscheduled time for myself. I haven’t been doing my best with self-care and I’m feeling it these gloomy days. Other things come up and my unscheduled unscheduled time gets filled with some other thing that needs to be done. So, just like I have scheduled therapy sessions through to the end of the year, I’m scheduling time to take care of myself. Time away into what passes for silence in an urban setting. Quiet time for observations, reflections, some writing and some time to take photos.
I hadn’t noticed if the weather forecast was calling for sunshine today, but I seized the afternoon after grocery shopping. It was a bit icy on the river trail but I got almost an hour of real sunshine and nearly ten miles of bicycling. That was my unscheduled scheduled unscheduled time, and it really helped.
I’ve decided to re-frame how I think about my bicycling. For the past couple of years, I have felt disappointed that I hadn’t ridden more, certainly not as much as I am able to ride. I ride more than once a week, and I usually ride more than ten miles when I do – why be disappointed with that?
I noticed I didn’t give you answers to the usual questions. I’m holding on for the winter solstice and longer days. And I could probably sleep from dusk to dawn, but I don’t because my back wouldn’t like all that laying around.
Feather in the Wilderness 
I think scheduling your unscheduled time is critically important (my two cents!). I’m trying to remember if I first heard about the concept with Julia Cameron’s “artist dates” or in The Artists’ Way or in Sarah Ban Branach’s “Simple Abundance” but it goes back a long while no matter where. What is surprising (for those of us who tend to feel we must be hyper busy to get things done) is that sometimes, we actually get things done. Maybe not the list, but something sorely needed, like a bike ride, time to chill with a fun book or even (heaven forbid!) that terrible project we keep putting off because we don’t have time. Mentally productive! Three cheers for you, Harold. Keep it up — indefinitely!
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Holding on till winter solstice! Have you seen the billboard with the countdown to that day on Saginaw westbound?? At the point just east of the Speedway at Frandor 😀 I haven’t checked but most years it’s also my birthday December 21. The current Gloom is like a dementor sucking the energy out the chimney of your house. I super applaud your bike ride in the sun. 👍🏻👏🏻
Making a mental list of what you’ve DONE is a good process vs tackling the endless scroll of what you should do (defeatist in concept ☹️). I like when I remember that-thanks got the reminder. 💜
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Hooray bike rides in the sun! We did that this weekend – didn’t quite manage 10 miles, but there was a winery at the turnaround… -_^ I haven’t ridden a bike without a specific errand or destination in mind in probably 20 years. It was AWESOME. For the first little while, I kept thinking that we should keep it short to go home for laundry and cooking and vacuuming and… and… ooh look turkey vultures in the grape vines! Right there! wow they’re cool. So we kept going. ^_^
I think winter is like that – starting out wishing you could turn around, but then getting distracted by something that keeps you moving forward, keeps you engaged and interested, keeps you going.
I’ve also hopped on the “bullet journal” bandwagon. One of the fiber artists I follow had shared theirs, and the process, and I did a little more research, and it’s actually kinda helping. I think the thing I was hung up on was that it had to be PERFECT from the start. But the system is designed to accommodate life, and it doesn’t matter if it’s organized – it’s linear, the same way you’ve experienced it, and there’s an index to let you know what’s where. (The index can also be done like a lab notebook – worked from the last page. That way you don’t worry about leaving enough room for it!)
It’s also helping me let go of the idea that what I do has to be perfect the first time around. We’ll see how far I get with it, but so far I’m really enjoying starting my Mondays with pens and paper.
Big hugs!
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