Back in January, when we were all making New Year’s Resolutions, I read riveting advice from the comic writer/illustrator of Dilbert. He was discussing the importance of developing good habits. From anyone else, this would have sounded like sermonizing and I would’ve crumpled my features section up in one hand and tossed it onto the floor alongside my kids’ Kinex pieces. But the creator of Dilbert, Scott Adams, is self-effacing, and he made the development of good habits sound, well, not only appealing but quite possibly a little bit fun.
Of course, he also knew better than to call them “habits”: he called it the “know how” of decision making. As in buy healthy snack options and have them ready to grab and go if you live the frenzied lifestyle most of us do, so you don’t have the excuse of grabbing the unhealthy but convenient bag of chips.
Self-help gurus call this “being deliberate” In this new book I’m reading, The Gifts of Imperfection by Brene Brown, the acronym is DIG: be deliberate, get inspired, and get going.
Now, folks – this may sound obvious to some of you who already live what Brown calls, “wholehearted” lives. But I’m more like the poor sap who Scott Adams was talking to in his January article. What? I have to change something specific about the way I’m doing things to get different results? I can’t just cruise through life, cross my fingers, blow on some magic dice for good luck, and hope this roll will come out in my favor?
Some of you who know me may be surprised to find out that’s how I feel about some of my decisions - or lack of decisions, but it’s true, and I think even the Uber-people reading this today will admit to some area in your lives (maybe it’s your home life, maybe it’s your career, or maybe it’s your relationship with your children/spouse/extended family or the friends you used to have when you had time to have friends) in which you don’t apply the “know-how” to make deliberate choices that result in meeting your life goals.
Is this too intense for summer break?
Should I be back in bed sleeping in? Lounging in front of HGTV with my coffee? Packing my poolside bag?
See, that’s the thing. All those pastimes are GRAND, and do not be dismayed, dear reader, I will be doing all of them this summer because I am a teacher, and we teachers pack 12 months of work into 9 months, training our bodies, even, to ignore basic stimuli that other people with normal jobs are in tune with like, “I am hungry. I want to eat,” and “My bladder is full. Perhaps I should go to the bathroom.”
Anyone who spends hours upon hours with children – regardless of said children’s age – knows that interacting with them all day long is exhausting. Fun, makes the time pass, interesting, rewarding, blah blah blah, but also exhausting as in drain the blood out of me, I am a walking-zombie-by-June tired.
And your kids? They need time to play and rest and just goof off too. They’ve been tested all year long, and cooped up inside of classrooms and stuffed full of facts that we adults once learned but can’t remember. They can solve for “x” and mix chemicals and write eloquent essays and play the chromatic scale because they’ve been working hard all school year and because they’re taught by dedicated professionals who won’t accept anything less than their best for 180 days of the year.
It is indeed time to exhale and enjoy the smell of sunblock.
I just don’t want my summer to pass without also being intentional about it. There are creative endeavors I cannot reach during the school year; day trips our family can’t make, historical landmarks we can’t visit, and friends we don’t get to see.
Today, I’m going to invite each of my children to write down on a slip of paper three things they want to do while on vacation, and I’m going to pin them (the papers, not my kids) to our bulletin board where we normally keep school papers. There are four different categories: Play, Grow, Connect, and Organize. I’ll let you know what ideas we hatch and share with you the adventures we have along the way.
Happy summer, everyone, and enjoy your own chance to DIG away!
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