I try very hard to keep my life simple. Minimalists inspire me. I read this article recently about Mark Zuckerberg (yes, that Mark Zuckerberg) where he explains why he wears the same shirt every day to work. It’s about minimizing decisions, petty decisions that is, in order to save energy and brainpower for more important things. Every decision, every choice, depletes willpower. In addition, having too many choices lowers satisfaction and makes decision making more difficult.
I know this, and so I’ve set up my life with minimal stuff, minimal distraction, minimal drama.
Lately however, complicated keeps chasing me.
I keep forgetting things. Every phone call is complicated and unresolved without more phone calls. My wallet is lost (stolen?), requiring dozens more phone calls and complications. Everything in my house keeps breaking.
Have you ever experienced this?
The smallest things keep being difficult and complicated. At this moment, for example, I am sitting in a parking deck at the hospital waiting for my husband to pick me up. Why? Because the key won’t turn in the ignition of his car, which I borrowed to drive to see my son today. I’ve been trying unsuccessfully for 45 minutes, and the key will not budge.
There are several reasons for all the complications, I believe.
One, feeling a little brain challenged after having a baby is pretty normal. Hormones and whatnot. Two, I have an entirely new schedule and my days are practically unrecognizable to me at the moment. Having to constantly remember new things that I didn’t have to think about months ago makes me forgetful.
But something else is going on too, and that I can’t explain. I wish the world would stop for a moment and let me off. Yet there isn’t one thing I am willing to change about my situation currently. I can’t drop the rope.
So I don’t know quite what to do to make things easier. Even amidst all the change, I try to create routines to help me cope and to minimize dumb mistakes, and that does help some.
Have you ever had a season of life like that?
How I long for my old slow, steady routine. I despise the culture of busy that so many are trapped in (or worse, brag about), and I have actively fought that phenomenon in my life.
I suppose this will pass eventually. I’m not sure what lesson I am supposed to learn in this.
5 1/2 years after having my preemie, I *STILL* am brain dead. 🙂 Actually, in my case, there’s a medical reason: the HELLP Syndrome spiked my blood pressure to stroke-levels and we think one of the side effects is short-term memory loss.
Add in that you’ve got a kid in a completely different setting from your others, you’re having to keep straight a whole other set of information that doesn’t apply to your other kids, and you are recovering from major surgery. You’re doing well if you’re keeping even the most basic things straight!
I had a similar thing happen to me with my husband’s car — and after an hour of crying/reading the owner’s manual I found out that I needed to turn the wheel straight. Hang in there!
Believe me we tried this. It is actually a recall issue, hopefully the dealer will repair it for free.