October 2018 Link Party with “A Chronic Voice”

Hello friends! It’s time for October’s Link Party with Sheryl at “A Chronic Voice!” This months prompts are Budgeting, Speeding, Slowing, Evaluating, and Escaping. Thank you, Sheryl, for hosting this link party again. I really do enjoy reading everyone’s responses. 

Budgeting

I’ve found that I really need to do a better job with keeping track of my spending. I really need to just sit down every week, and write down what I spent, and compare it to what I’ve budgeted for that category. I can be so diligent for a couple of weeks, and then laziness sets in. Before I know it several months have gone by, and I haven’t recorded anything! So why am I puzzled by my checking account balance?

I probably should go back and read my post called Finally Simple Budgeting to get some inspiration.  I need to take my own advice, and just start recording, and tracking yet again! LOL!

Speeding

I just feel like my life is speeding past like a passenger train inbound on the morning commute! Before I know it, it’s late afternoon and I wonder how the day got away from me. I wonder if I accomplished anything important or worthwhile.

I blink and it’s mid-October. 2018 will be over before I even know it. My firstborn is 31 years old. and my “baby” will be 19 in December. I’ll be celebrating the big 60 birthday next month.

I guess this is what happens when we just keep doing the next thing that needs done. We wake up one morning, and look back and wonder where we are, and maybe even how we got here.

This speeding time worries me that maybe I focused on the wrong things, or maybe I didn’t do “ENOUGH!” Ugh!! 

Slowing

The urgency of time flying by, stirs my mind into all the things I yet want to do and experience. But, my slowing body just doesn’t cooperate! There’s so much I long to experience, but my pitiful energy levels don’t allow many adventures.

For example, yesterday I attended my 5th son’s graduation from a technical college. Due to the logistics of getting everyone where they needed to be, I started picking people up at 4:25 pm. My son needed to be at the school before 6pm, but the graduation ceremony didn’t start until 7. We ended up eating dinner at 9:30 at night. I didn’t get to bed until 11pm. Today, I have had a sinus headache all day, and I’m tight-chested and wheezy. I clearly overdid it!

This evening, I wanted to see a friend who is in town for the weekend, but that is not going to happen. My body is definitely moving in the slow lane, and nothing I’ve tried helps speed it up.

Evaluating

Being chronically ill, makes evaluating what I’m doing on a daily/weekly basis really necessary. Did I take on too many projects? Say “Yes” when I really needed to say “No”? Why did I sign up for 3 courses at the same time??? Do I really “need to mop the floor on the same day I sweep it?” I really struggle with pacing my life, can you tell?

Escaping

Usually in the evening, I love to escape by watching animal documentaries. I’ve been on a bird binge lately, so I’ve been learning about owls, and eagles. I’ve been watching shows on different habitats. It’s my way of having adventures from my couch. 

Coloring, drawing and crafting are also really relaxing activities for me, and I love to re-read children’s books, especially The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. In fact, I want to re-read James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl. I also really love many children’s movies, and am currently looking forward to the release of Mary Poppins Returns due out in theaters this December. 

These things help me escape from the endless sadness in this world, and enrich my life in many ways. However, I’m often guilty of escaping too much. Sometimes I really need to feel my feelings, stay in that uncomfortable space, and pay attention to what life is trying to teach me.

In my experience, checking out of life, because it hurts, has only led to more sorrow later. Another one of those tricky balancing acts.

The End of My Link Party Post

So here we are at the end of this month’s Link Party prompts. I hope you’ve enjoyed these answers, and maybe even learned a thing or two from this old turtle. LOL!

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Feel free to share this post with friends and family, and leave a comment. I love reading what you all have to say! Till next time, Kathy