Hard things are defined (by me) as anything that forces me out of bed too early, into the world, pushing my limits and making me uncomfortable. That encompasses a lot for a wannabe-hermit, like myself.
The best part of my daycaring career was not having to leave the house to go to work every morning (the second best part was the dress code - casual, comfortable attire and the lack of shoes). Sharing a roof with a houseful of little people made leaving the house a treat.
This past week was the first time, in the five months since my daycare closed, I actually longed for the good old days of daycaring.
Getting outside and breathing in the cool, fresh air of "spring" was one of our most anticipated and life affirming events of the year. The whole world became our playground. We walked, we talked, we noticed the robins, flowers, trees coming into bud and the color "green" returning to the landscape of our lives.
One of my favorite parts of daycaring was looking at the world around me through the eyes of a child. Even bug watching was akin to the way others may feel while watching the Olympics.
Ants are the hardest working insect I know and I loved noticing a tiny little ant carrying something ten times its size and pointing this out to my little humans. "Look at that ant! See what he is carrying?!" The lesson was almost anything is possible if you are willing to do the work and have the determined attitude of an ant.
I doubt my little two and three year olds retained the lesson but it was a good reminder for me as I went about my days of daycaring feeling like I was carrying the weight of the world on my shoulders at times, as I tended to our days, routines and child care.
One of my other favorite things about my daycare days was quiet time. I couldn't have done my job without it. We carved out a solid one and a half hours (longer, if naps prevailed) of stillness and quiet. No TV, no background noise. Just the sound of quiet, restful breathing as my little ones nodded off, one by one.
I remained still myself during that hour or two of quiet. I miss that quiet time in the middle of the day. I wonder how I could incorporate a siesta time into my new line of work. I do believe we would all do better by taking that time to unplug, recharge and reboot our systems BEFORE those very systems decide to shut us down by whatever means are necessary.
One of my present jobs is bookkeeping. My bookkeeping boss is an incredibly wise, hard working and determined lady. She reminds me of an ant, in the way she carries a load that is far too heavy to carry at times.
We have been having trouble with the internet going down a lot this past week, which plays havoc on the wireless printer's ability to print what it has been told when the connection is down. Left to its own devices, the connection did reestablish itself on its own but it took time. As I put together a trouble shooting guide to assist my boss in case this should happen over the weekend, I illustrated my guide with a step by step process of exactly what to do when things went wrong. It's a boring little process but steps "5" and "6" are key to the process:
5. Once you see this "Fixed" message, you are done. But it takes a while for the printer to catch up and print. Go grab a cup of tea and come back in a few minutes and things should take care of itself.
6. Take this as a message from The World. When things don't work, REST! UNPLUG! WALK AWAY! and REBOOT your system. It means you are working too hard!!
The world is always sending us messages and cues to stop and smell the roses. Or count the first robins of spring. Or admire the wonders of nature in all its glory.
I may not have a daycare any more but I must retain all I learned from that educational time.
- Stop and enjoy the view. EVERY day.
- Go for walks.
- Have "quiet time". EVERY day.
- Rest! Unplug! Walk away! Reboot!
Now I must unplug and take care of today's errands so I can come home and do "all of the above". I hope you do the same.
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