And Yet Another Year has Passed!

by Irwin Lengel
(Auburndale FL USA)

I have been negligent in keeping up with my blog site and been scolding myself for not paying more attention to it.

That's what happens when we get old, we are still of the mindset that this and that must be done before anything else. The downside of that is that we tend to forget that we too need care and consideration.

What does that mean? Well, in my case I tend to consider my daily chores come first as do errands that must be attended to and so forth and so on.

Add to that, depending on your age and health, there seems to be never-ending trips to the doctor, in some cases - depending on one's health, trips to acupuncture, physical therapy, specialists and so forth. Then there is grocery shopping and well - I don't need to preach to the choir here. I am sure you have all been through it.

Such has been my life for some time now, but I stopped and asked myself a question:

I said: Self: Feeling good at the end of the day? Did you get everything done that you wanted to? Are you happy with what you accomplished? I have found that the answer to the first two questions is usually Yes, but being truthful, the last one is usually No.

Why? Well in my case, being honest with myself, the answer would be a resounding No! Why? Because I did not take care of me. To be completely honest with ourselves, at the end of the day, we should be satisfied with having done the chores, ran the errands, visited the doctor, and so forth, but there is that proverbial "But", have we taken care of ourselves?

It doesn't have to take a half day or three-quarters of the day. In many cases, 30-45 minutes are quite sufficient. Even a twenty-minute coffee or tea break would do us a world of good. What do we do with that short break from daily duties? Anything that brings us happiness and a feeling of satisfaction.

In my case, it used to be writing. But I have gotten away from that and have not worked out a good time frame to work some "me" time in my day. I have to remind myself occasionally that I used to pride myself as to how organized I was and that at the end of the day I would lay out what had to be done the next day and in what order. It worked well for me.

Shortly after we retired, I used to do the same but this time with household chores, doctor visits, and the like. In the beginning I also included time for writing. But over the years I have come to consider everything, but writing was more important. Not so!

I do not know how many years I have left (turned 84 last month) and decided that I need to allow some "me" time into my days.

Boy, that was a long-winded bunch of words to tell everyone that I am back to writing. My posts may be short in the beginning, but as I go along hopefully, they will get longer and more interesting.

Since I was accustomed to trying to give my readers something to smile, chuckle, or make them feel good, I will end this post with a couple of one-liners.

Since the brain tissue mostly comprises fat, will you become more intelligent if you keep eating pizza with extra cheese?

This one sort of falls into the main gist of this post:

Since it is the thought that counts, can I just think about doing all the chores needed to be done around here?

In conclusion, let me end this post with the following:

Each morning, we are born again. What we do today is what matters most.

Y'all have a good day.

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