three on thursday {+ a question for you}

It’s been one of those weeks where some days are so full, I wake up and think two days have passed.

(In fact, Monday was so long, I didn’t wake Elsa on Tuesday morning because I thought it was Wednesday! Wednesday’s a late day for her. Luckily, *she* knew it was Tuesday and woke herself up.)

Which prompts the question: When days are full, what helps your Future You? What favors can we do for our future selves to bring some sort of ease, assistance, or perk to packed days?

Three from me (…since it’s Thursday):

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{one} rely on a few good habits.

My messy desk is messy. (Which is just the way it is. Mess means good stuff’s happening there, so I’ve stopped trying to change it–and embrace it.) But, other than my messy desk, I like a neat space.

I can’t always keep up with that, though. (Not when I’m packing two days’ doing into one.) So I appreciate a few good habits that anchor my space and remind me some things are totally under control:

i) Making our bed every morning starts the day off right — and a well-made bed is the best to climb into at night. ii) Setting the coffeepot timer at night is my #1 reason to wake up early. And iii) clearing our kitchen island…completely…before bed every night means we start with [at least one!] clean slate every morning.

In these three ways — if only these three ways — we bookend our days with order, predictability, and spaciousness. Even when the rest of life is…dynamic!

{two} schedule joy

I know that sounds really uptight. But that’s not how I mean it. (Really.)

What I’m trying to say is commit, on your calendar!, to those joy-filled things you backburner, cancel, or simply forget about when life gets full.

Lately? That’s an hour this morning to talk with a friend far away. It’s Monday night chorale. (Loving that, BTW!) A standing date with the chiropractor. And saying Yes to a walk when I ‘should’ say No.

And —

{three} remember. . .people matter most

Monday, I ended up in a mammogram that used to take me 45 minutes, door to door — but instead took 4 ½ hours. Yesterday, a long, minor-crisis phone call was a curveball in a back-to-back day. And a decision I thought would be quick + simple proved to be other than, you could say!

One of the great questions that’s come along with My One Word ’23 is ‘What matters most?’ All week long, that’s come back to people.

The imaging center was packed with women getting mammograms. Some were routine; some may change lives. The ‘interrupting’ phone call? It was stressful. But not nearly as so for me as for the others on the line. And that simple decision that took all day to make turned out to be quite funny, actually. (And over the course of it, I got to know a few people better.)

Somehow, despite a full plate, I found more grace than is usually available to me…let’s say. (Wonder of wonders!) (I’ll take it.) —

In pausing my own agenda (and thanks to an astute third party on the call), I could offer support to someone who was seriously overwhelmed. In pausing my agenda to point out a clerical error in my file (that I knew would delay my results by weeks), the tech went out of her way to get a doctor’s eyes on my scans. Like, immediately. (And I got my first-ever ‘Normal’ on a 3-D image! Hooray.)

The week’s been a good reminder, time and again, to put people first. Because the Who will always be there long after the To-do is done.

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And that makes three!

You know what I’m going to ask now, don’t you? When the days are full, what helps your Future You? What ‘favors’ bring some sort of ease, assistance, perk to a busy day?