Margin...you know, that little extra time you give yourself before an appointment?
Margin...you know, that little extra space you give yourself and the car in front of you when you are driving? The wiggle room you add into your budget, just in case? The day you add on to a vacation to make sure you have a day to recover...and do laundry? The 5 minutes that you get up early so you don't have to rush headlong into your day? You know, margin.
I was talking this morning with a friend and listening to her express the same concerns I have...not enough time to get done what needs to get done in our busy lives. Not enough margin. Now, she's a pastor's wife. Guaranteed to be a busy person. I teach middle school. Need I say more? Teachers lead busy lives by definition, don't they?
It has been a month since I first hit that scary orange publish button and started this blog, at the same time declaring to the world my desire to have more balance in my life. I believe I am loving margin today because as book club met yet again tonight, and yet again I did not have the book finished on time, I am realizing, yet again, how precious little margin I still have in my life.
I am also loving it though, because as hard as it is for me, I really have carved out a few caches of margin this spring break week, both physically and mentally. What you see above is a perfectly clear section of our kitchen counter. We saved so much money on our stove at the auction last week that we went ahead and bought a brand new above the range microwave to replace our 22 year old one. Thus, the newly cleared off counter. Granted, The Man had the new wave installed by Saturday, and I just today found the counter underneath the old one, but I am protecting it like a mama bear watches over her cubs. It is my margin...it is my space. Don't touch it!
The other cache of margin I have carved out came earlier this week as I had breakfast with a friend one day and lunch with a different friend a different day. It comes again tomorrow when I head south to Chillicothe with some more friends to Creations Sew Clever (I love that name!) to attend their Friday Sit n' Sew. I started putting together a quilt top the last time these friends and I headed south to Sit n' Sew and guess when the last time I worked on that quilt was? Yeah, you guessed it. That day. In August.
So...I have some more balancing to do. But I'm trying...honest I am. And guess what! I am halfway done with my Christmas letter! See, there's hope! Talk to me friends...where is your margin? What do you cut out of your day? Tell me your secrets for keeping things in balance. What do you give up to gain some breathing room, some thinking space, some margin?
Trish,
ReplyDeleteI love your posts. I love the way you notice the small things in life that I seem to overlook until you slow me down long enough to think about them. Your words just flow on the page. I start reading and find myself finished in a blink as I am so enjoying your message.
Margin. I'm not sure I've really thought about it. You notice so many places where we try to leave margin in our lives: on paper, before appointments, in our budgets, on vacations. Finding margin is hard and it usually gets filled easily.
I've decided I must be someone who likes to write in the margins. I create margins and soon find myself filling them with little things: a moment on the patio with a cup of coffee, time to sit and talk with my daughter, time to do a little writing, time to wander across blogs and comment. I guess I like to write in the margins. I always was a doodler. ;o)
I'm thinking you write in your margins a little too. Taking the challenge of this blog is a little writing in the margin --- or creating margin to find time to do it. Either way, I'm glad you do. I enjoy stopping by to see what you've noticed that I've overlooked.
Thanks for making me smile,
Cathy
Cathy...thank you so much for the kind words. They are a balm to my soul. I wrote & rewrote last night and darn it if I didn't totally forget to add a bit about how I have ALWAYS been doodling in the margins of my papers since the first time a teacher handed me a sheet of notebook paper! I was not at all satisfied with what I wrote when I pushed publish but I see I have struck a chord with you so something must have worked. Natural born doodler that I am (and you are) maybe that's it...could it be we are just not made to have clean margins? That seems both exciting & dangerous at the same time. Thank you again for inviting me in to this challenge...I've learned so very much in these 29 day about writing, teaching, commenting, sharing...living...and yes...margin.
DeleteTrish
This is such an intriguing way to talk about the balance that is sometimes (oftentimes) so elusive in our lives. Margins. You have described perfectly the way we try to plan and schedule to include them in our days. The margins are critical to keeping a peace and a sense of wellness, and yet sometimes they get filled with things that are unplanned, unexpected, unwanted really. I'm glad that your spring break has helped you catch up, get ahead, give you more margin. Margin is time and space for breathing, reflecting, being without demands. I love my margins too, Trish. Thanks for reminding me of their importance and for such a lovely read.
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