For your Transcendentalist pondering tonight, a quote from Henry David Thoreau's Walden: "Our life is frittered away by detail. An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest. Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail."
I ran across this quote in my mad scramble to amass curriculum for 2008-2009. (I know, I know--it's only June. But these things have a way of sneaking up on me, so I'm trying to be proactive.) The quote struck me as particularly fitting for this point in my life. It's a very special summer: I'm getting married to an absolutely wonderful man. I can't wait to get started on this next phase of my life; sharing the daily joys and sorrows with my best friend... who, after four years of dating, can still make me tingle whenever he smiles at me. How lucky am I? (Very lucky--yes, I know!)
And yet, sometimes I forget to prioritize my relationship. Sometimes, the wonder and frustration of love gets pushed aside by laundry and grocery shopping. I can't focus on the important things, because I'm too busy defrosting dinner and obsessing about work drama.
So how do I change? I want to enjoy my life. I don't want to "fritter away" this amazing summer worrying about things I can't control... or working on things I don't really care about. So, how does a high-strung perfectionist with a long to-do list learn to take a breath and enjoy the little things? How does she learn to let go of all the needless minutiae?
I have no idea, but it's my goal to find out.
