Did You Like Being A Kid?

My husband asked me this tonight.  I had to think about my answer for a while.  Sure, there were things I liked about being a kid.  My parents spent a lot of time with us, I didn’t have to make hard decisions, and I thought the world would be a fair place when I grew up.

There were also a lot of things I didn’t like about being a kid.  I didn’t like being told what to do all of the time, having most decisions made for me, the pressure of having to be the golden child, or the feeling that most of my life was mapped out for me.

Overall, I have to say I’m happier as an adult than I was as a kid.  I like the fact that I can’t be forced to go somewhere, or told who I can or cannot be friends with.  I like knowing that my life is my own.  I don’t have to live up to anyone’s ideal. 

Of course there are things that aren’t quite like I thought they’d be. Going to work every day isn’t exciting, a mortgage can be very stressful, and driving really isn’t all that fun.  But the trade-off is worth it.  Sure, there are stresses and problems, but there’s freedom.  I value the freedom more than the ability to be care free. 

So, yes, I liked being a kid, but I’m very glad childhood lasts only a small portion of our lifespan.   I wouldn’t want to repeat it. 

So what about you, did you like being a kid?  Are you happier as an adult, or do you miss childhood?

My Day of Freedom

I did get my day of freedom yesterday.  I didn’t go anywhere.  I didn’t even talk to or see anyone other than my husband.  I didn’t go on Facebook, and I completely ignored the phone.  It was wonderful.  I may have to do it more often.  I was able to get quite a bit accomplished too; not as much as I would have liked, but definitely enough to call it a good day.

I cleaned out and organized the refrigerator.  This always makes me happy and makes me feel like a success in the kitchen, so that was excellent.  

I caught up most of the laundry, including putting it away (that’s always the really hard part for me for some reason), and some of the ironing.  I am beginning to think that the cats pull clean clothes from the closets and dressers and toss them in the hamper while we’re gone.  I think it’s possible; our cats can behave very badly sometimes, and we seem to generate an exorbitant amount of laundry for just two people.  

I submitted a poem to an online publication.  I had been meaning to do this for about two months, but between procrastination and a fear of rejection I just hadn’t gotten around to it.  It’s submitted now.  It will be about three months before I hear anything back from them, so now that it’s done I’m trying not to think much about it.  Yes, I am aware of the fact that if I’d submitted it when I first decided to I’d only have about another month to wait before hearing from them.  Live and learn.

Continuing on the writing front, I organized my partially written posts into folders within my folder on the desk top, and named them appropriately.  I will be happier because I can find things now, and my husband will be happier because they’re organized and not all over the desktop.  (He has this theory that you shouldn’t save everything to the desktop and that that’s what folders are for.)  I also worked on a few posts for later on, though not quite as many as I had hoped.  

I also scrubbed the kitchen floor; the on your hands and knees with a bucket of soapy water kind of scrubbing, instead of using a mop or Swiffer.  I haven’t done this in a while, and let me just say that almost every inch of my body is screaming “WHY???  WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?” today.  But the floor looks really, really good.  

The floor scrubbing was good too because, being a mindless activity that kept my hands busy, it gave me time to think about some things.  As I mentioned Tuesday, I’ve been edgy and snappish lately, so I spent the time trying to figure out some solutions.  I concluded that at least part of the trouble is that I’ve lapsed into a very disorganized state.  I am happiest when I know what I’m making for dinner every (or at least most) night for the week, when my work clothes are laid out the night before, and when things are just generally well-organized and planned.  This hasn’t been happening lately.  I’m not entirely sure why, but I suspect it’s due to a combination of poor time management and a general lack of organization.

I found some great articles on organization with some tips and ideas that I plan to try, and I’m working on a plan for getting some things organized.  I’ll probably be writing more about that later.  

The time management part is harder.  I seem to have a pattern of saying yes to everything I’m asked to do or participate in, getting burned out that way, and then saying no to everything.  I’m still working on a solution for this one.  Most of the things I commit to seem important at the time, so I’m having a hard time figuring out what to say no to.  How do you prioritize?  Do you have a daily/weekly/monthly limit for things you’ll commit to?  Do you have any suggestions at all for better time management?

I also came to the realization that I spend (okay, waste) a lot of time every week on Facebook and talking on the phone.  I realize that not all phone conversations are a waste of time, and there are definitely people that I need and want to talk to.  I need to stop answering my phone any and every time it rings and staying on the phone until the other person needs to go.  I plan to start utilizing voicemail and prioritizing whether or not a call needs to be returned immediately, based on the voicemail and what I’m currently trying to accomplish.  And I think I’m going to start setting serious limits for my time on Facebook.  I’m also considering whittling down my friends list.  Have any of you tried this, or had success in limiting phone and Facbook time?

I hope you all had a safe, wonderful, and happy Fourth of July.

Enjoying Freedom

No, I’m not talking about the kind being celebrated tomorrow.  I’m talking about the kind that comes from  having no commitments for a day.  I, like a lot of people, have the day off of work tomorrow.  Unlike a lot of people I’ve spoken to I have no plans for the day.

My husband is currently working nights, so he’ll be sleeping during the day, which means we’ve made no plans.  I’m pretty sure I could have a rock concert in the living room and he would sleep through it, so I’m not really limited on what I can do at home.  Not that I want a rock concert.  I’m actually not a fan of loud noise; it’s just nice for me (and for him since I’m a klutz) that I don’t have to tiptoe around quietly while he’s sleeping. 

I have rescheduled the one commitment I had for tomorrow and have blatantly refused to make any others.  I need the freedom of an unstructured day.  I need to clean the house.  I need to iron.  I need to work on some blog posts that have been swirling around in my head.  I need to regain control of myself.

I need 24 hours in which I don’t have to meet anyone’s demands, solve anyone’s problems, or deal with anything outside the walls of our little house.  I have felt myself becoming increasingly snappish and edgy for the past week.  I’m not entirely sure what is causing it, but I am sure I don’t like who I am at the moment. 

I think I will be a much better person after my day of freedom.  I plan to use the time to come up with a plan for making myself less edgy and snappish.  I suspect this will involve coming up with a plan to get some things organized and set some time management priorities, and of course beginning to implement said plan.

 So what about you?  How do you plan to spend your day of freedom?