My husband is the type that finds enjoyment from creating meticulous plans within plans, knowing they are doomed to fail in some part—how many lesson days, number of standards, scope and sequence, mapping it out to ensure every single approach is covered … Which will be modified by snow days, unforeseen hiccups, etc., yet the daily misadventures of happenstance will turn a yearlong work into, “Let’s just see what happens.”
He’d counsel though that our lives are as much made by the things we couldn’t plan for, didn’t see coming or that surprise us. It’s naïve, but it’s ingrained in me that, if I didn’t get to the end of a day having been productive to a certain level, I haven’t quite justified my existence. The paradox with time is holding loosely onto the idea that we won’t get it all done while grasping that one day we will have it all.
Without paradox, we only focus on small ticket items we know we can accomplish—like doing the dishes or doing well at our job ... While never creating that perfect schedule for the things that are so very hard to master like being a better friend, a more patient parent, a kinder partner or being able to finish a 10K. But those are the things that need that “perfect” yearly calendar as naïve as it may be. Dream we must.
Margaret Wachholz is the campus marketing director at Woodbury Senior Living. In her column, she shares observations and wisdom about aging and senior living in our community. Find more at woodburyseniorliving.com.
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From the May 2022 issue
