I don’t think life is nearly as compartmentalized as I try to make it. I try to plan out my schedule with time for God and time for exercise and time for myself and time for my kids and time for my husband and time for friends and time for art and time for making supper and getting groceries, and the list goes on and on.
While all these things are necessary and good, I think the problem is when I start to think that one does not affect the other.
I was thinking today about how good I feel after I exercise. It’s like the physical exhaustion allows room for creative inspiration. I have so many ideas in the hour or two following a workout. It’s a burst of mental energy like none other. My workouts affect my creativity and my mental thinking. On a day where I skip exercise I’m less likely to get that awesome flow of creative ideas or to have the energy to accomplish any of them.
Then there is food. How I eat, what I eat, when I eat, it all affects the rest of my life.
And of course God. He is a constant presence throughout my entire day.
I want to think of life as a big list, where I can apply huge checkmarks when I’ve finished a task. Turns out it’s not that cut and dry. For while my exercise is done, the affects of that exercise will carry into my entire day. And while I might not be with my kids while they rest, the morning’s interactions with them will play into how I spend my down time. Will I create or nap or journal or eat? And sometimes things that you thought were entirely separate will end up together somehow – exercising with my kids or feeling artistically fulfilled through creating dinner.
There are compartments in life, the different areas of our life that need attention, but the edges run together much more than we realize. The food on the cafeteria tray bleeds at the edges, so a little gravy from my mashed potatoes is hanging out in my green beans. It’s a little messy. A little IMPERFECT. A little hard to sort out. Did I just eat for my physical needs or for my artistic needs? Did this book I’m reading just affect me both mentally and spiritually? Did the grass getting cut help me physically and emotionally?
What is great about this realization is that I find when I’m doing the “have-tos” of life, I’m starting to trust that they are also necessary for me to be able to do my “get-tos” so well. That one has a direct affect on the other means I’m never really just doing chores, I’m also developing other parts of my mind, soul, and body that I don’t even realize at the time.
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Love this post Mandy! Such great thoughts, and something I needed to hear lately specifically. Especially this part….
“What is great about this realization is that I find when I’m doing the “have-tos” of life, I’m starting to trust that they are also necessary for me to be able to do my “get-tos” so well.”
Some great stuff to think about. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts lately, even though I haven’t had a chance to comment on all of them. I hope you guys are doing well. I think of you often.