From the Strawberry Patch...: productivity

If you know me, you know that I'm a planner. I write down everything: "to do" lists, daily and weekly goals, I even commit our meals and menus to paper. I go so far as to mark up my planner with different color inks to signify levels of priority and importance. These pages, ordinarily, appear as a veritable text rainbow, filled to overflowing with scribbled tasks and notes.

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Here's my planner page from last week. Nothing. Zip. These stark pages will bear witness to what's now known (to me) as the lost week. So, what did I do all week? Where was I? I was right here, on the sofa by the fireplace under a quilt with a book! Doesn't that sound cozy? It really wasn't, the stomach bug plagued me for five solid days. So, that's really not all that blog-worthy, really; but what I'm struggling with this week is the fact that it's impossible to make up for lost time. Intellectually, I know that, of course; it's the emotional realization of this fact that cuts deep. My "to do" lists have migrated over to this week, Mr. G reminds me that it's okay to let it go.

He's right. I'm reminded of this long-ago poem that I cross stitched and hung in our infant son's nursery. Priorities are dictated by the situation at hand. I suppose that I can/should scrawl RECOVERING across those blank pages, that would satisfy my need for a written record of productivity. I wonder what color ink that would require? I could assign a sickly green, I suppose. 🤢 All kidding aside, I have trouble being side-lined, it's not in my nature. But, what would I say to my own family and friends who needed to give themselves time to heal? I'd strongly encourage that, I'd reassure them that a recovery period was necessary for a full recovery. Why, then, am I so hard on myself, why do I have trouble self-granting that very same grace? I don't know, but I am trying. I'm grateful today for restored health, believe me; I have a whole new respect for how quickly that can turn around!