When the idea of spring cleaning comes to me, it is not the notion of doing a deep cleaning to my house, as it was originally meant to signify. Originally it brings up visions of June Cleaver tearing into cleaning the floors, windows and the walls to make them really sparkle. Drapes and curtains would be washed and replaced, and the winter clothes hung outside in the sun and then packed away in order to bring out the lighter items of clothing. The notion of spring cleaning that I will subscribe to in my midlife is more in the form of determining what to clean in a metaphorical manner.

I would like to clean up my home of course but also my schedule; do you know how messy and smeared a full schedule of back-to-back commitments looks on my calendar? I want to clean out most of the unwanted activities and responsibilities around which I am no longer enthusiastic and get back to some of the things that I am enthusiastic about or really value and want. I won’t try to balance my schedule but I can be happier and more effective by “multi-tasking” my activities and get more “bang for the buck.”

I can do this by inviting new people I would like to get to know to meetings and fundraisers I am already committed to attending, or taking walks or going to the gym and exercising with people I want to get to know on a deeper level. Therefore to bring more of what is important to me together! I will think of my schedule as a schedule that has been cleaned for spring, and isn’t too messy. It will be sleek and streamlined.

Can you think of one way you can double up on your valued activities to make it a win for you instead of taking away from what you value?

Lorraine

This entry was posted by Lorraine Calhoun on April 30th, 2007 under Mid-Life with keywords .

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