I’m currently reading “A Resilient Life,” and in one of the chapters the author maps out what he sees as the burning questions of each decade. For the 20s, they are questions like, What kind of person am I becoming? Who are my people? Around what person or conviction will I orient my life? In the 30s (my current decade), the questions change as the “longer-range responsibilities of life begin to accumulate, and one’s sense of personal freedom is compromised as more permanent relationships and commitments are made” (p53). (If that isn’t a pithy statement to describe work, marriage, and family life!) In the 30s, you begin asking, How do I prioritize my responsibilities? When do I say yes, when do I say no? How do I make time for a spiritual life? How far can I go in fulfilling my purpose?
This morning, I opened my computer to research something and found myself looking at my blog statistics. It wasn’t until I counted out the posts — three in 2016, and five in 2017 — that I realized how little I have been writing the past two years. My mind shot toward the questions I had read just a few days before: How do I prioritize my responsibilities? When do I say yes, when do I say no? How do I make time for a spiritual life? How far can I go in fulfilling my purpose? I’ve known I wanted to be a writer since I was a little first grader, intent on keeping my script in line; and though it has never been a lucrative pursuit for me, it has always been a spiritual and purposeful one. This morning, I decided I wanted to reorient some of my priorities. And as eleven years of parenting have slowly clarified, I know that if I wait for whim and impulse (and free time!) to pursue things beyond the daily necessities, I will likely be waiting for another decade or two. Anything worth doing is worth creating space for in your life RIGHT NOW. And if the questions of this decade allude to anything, it is the 30s when you have more demands than time, and thus a requisite to manage time well.
The beginning of this pursuit is a decision to increase those yearly posts to twelve — one per month — in 2018. And as it is the last week of January, I thought I should tap this out post-haste, before the calendar stealthily carries away my goal without my even knowing.
Much is changing for our family this year — enough that we might as well pursue a healthy change in every facet. So it will be with High Countries.
highcountries.wordpress.com 