Confessions of a Chronic Multi-Tasker

If you’re reading this with any regularity you may begin to pick up on a theme. I fail at a lot of things, often. I hope to one day be “better”, but for now bringing them to the forefront and to you feels a bit like a confession and accountability. It came to me this morning as I’m (literally) blow-drying my hair AND opening the shades in the bedroom AND eating my breakfast AND getting out all my makeup paraphernalia. This. Is. How. I. Do. Everything. My life is a series of multi-tasks and run-on sentences.

I’ve recently reduced my hours at work from 40 to 30, which means I have one more day off each week. Aside from the pay decrease, it has been glorious. I didn’t realize how much I would love having that extra time off. When I originally started dreaming about it, my thoughts read like a bulleted list of The Things I Need To Do:

  • Feed and prune the plants in the yard.
  • Clean the garage.
  • Go through closets.
  • Paint back bedrooms. Not sure they need it, but I feel like I should paint something.
  • Go to the gym.
  • Ride my bike.
  • Sort things. I don’t know what things. Sorting just seems like something you should do with time off.

Mostly tasks, right? And I can almost guarantee that while I was painting, or riding my bike, I would at the very least be making more lists in my head. It’s even more likely that I would actually be DOING something else at the same time. I’m the kind of person who tries to fill every waking hour with something “productive”. I would judge how my weekend was by how much I got done (or not).

The crazy thing though is that I’ve done Almost None of The Things. I’m finding that the more time I’m off, the less I’m getting done. I can’t explain it…other than that I have found the joy of little or no agenda. I’m connecting with people I haven’t seen in a while and I don’t feel rushed. I’ve rediscovered how much I love to read. I have had a couple of spontaneous dates with the hubs, which he LOVES. We both do.

And at the risk of sounding oh-so-cheesy-christianeasy…I actually have time to hear God speak. And by that I don’t mean he’s giving me prophesy or anything like that. He’s just putting stuff on my heart that I need to hear. Like go and see so-and-so that you haven’t connected with in a while. Or pray for that friend with a scary doctor’s appointment coming up. Or organize a prayer meeting for another friend that’s been suffering for a long time. I can hear Him saying: “And Donna, I want you to think about why you haven’t thought of this before.” Hmm…maybe because I cram activities into every moment of every day except when I’m eating or sleeping.

For a lot of you I’m sure this will be a no, duh. But for me this is a Thing. It’s a Major Thing. And I hope and pray that it stays this way. Because I honestly would rather spend time with people than plants. I would rather feel empathy and pray for a person who’s scared or hurting than paint a wall or clean a garage. So if you come to my house please overlook the sorry-looking yard and garage and back bedrooms, and celebrate with me that after 60 years I’ve finally come closer to finding the Meaning of Life. Maybe we can go for a bike ride together.

Lastly, you also may have noticed that I still don’t know how to upload pictures to my blog or make it look pretty. Maybe I’ll do some research on that while I’m blow-drying my hair tomorrow.

Just kidding.