A Fresh Snow

Finally, snow. It was a long time in coming this year, but it’s here now. Suddenly, all of the plants that I didn’t cut back, the grass I didn’t mow and the leaves I didn’t rake are politely hidden under a nice blanket of white. The dreary landscape that is characteristic of fall once the leaves have dropped from the trees is now transformed into a beautiful study in black and white. A welcome change.

Change has been on my mind an awful lot lately. The new year is just around the corner; that is always a time of fresh commitments for me. I have a brand new journal to begin 2018 with, and I’m putting some serious consideration into a new format to organize my thoughts and my days. I’m reading a good book about changing habits: Mini Habits: Smaller Habits; Bigger Results by Stephen Guise. It might just alter my annual failure at maintaining resolutions!

I tape this blog for our local radio station, where it is broadcast three times a day, five days a week. I often have kind people telling me they enjoy it, or that I made them laugh. Recently, two people – separately – told me how much they identified with me, based on my “Island Reflections.” In explanation, one said, “I never get anything done, either…always overwhelmed.” The other said, “Your complaints are the same as my complaints!” Yikes!

The last couple weeks have been busy at work, with holiday sales and a big end-of-year order, so I’ve been going in earlier than usual (meaning “on time”). That means I am more often able to hear my radio broadcast. It does seem that – even if I disregard the self-consciousness of hearing my voice on the radio, and the embarrassment of my personal thoughts going out over the airwaves to friends, neighbors and strangers listening to the radio – I have gotten in a rut.  I tend to go on and on and on about all the things I need to do…all the time. I talk too much in terms of lists of chores undone and goals unmet. I complain about being overwhelmed.

I need to change that, too. Both the complaining, and the feeling of being overwhelmed. Really. Because though the grumbling is annoying…even to me…the underlying causes are detrimental to my quality of life. So what if the house is not company-ready? I almost never have company. So what if the leaves don’t get raked or the flower beds aren’t pristine? I can always count on the snow to disguise my neglect. This is my one life. So, it’s not just a matter of choosing better topics to write about, but in actually living a better life. That’s a change worth working toward!