Addition

Thus far, my July has been all about subtraction.

First, I declared Bandwidth Bankruptcy. I declared a cease and desist on all personal projects in process.

I took nine days off work, while my husband and kids went out of town without me, and spent most of it clearing the almost all the clutter out of my house (and a good bit of it out of my brain).

But now, I’m back at work, and the family is back, and it’s time to change directions again. I’ve admired my marvelous clean plate long enough. It’s time to start selecting entrees and appetizers and side dishes.

For a very long time, I have been approaching life like it’s a 4th of July barbecue or a church picnic. Load up the plate with tiny portions of everything. Eat and repeat. Try everything. Compliment all the chefs.

It worked for my life up to this point. It helped me become a remarkable, adaptable, interesting person. It led to a fun career in an interesting and ever-changing field. Dabbling has worked really well for me, up till now.

But I don’t want to dabble right now. I don’t want to fill up a styrofoam plate with a tablespoon of this and a dollop of that.

I want to plan a sumptuous feast of a life, where each course is intentional, even if some of them are unexpected. I want fewer things that complement each other better, and I want to give each thing more attention and more time to savor.

Things are in the works, both at work and at home, to make this reality, but the biggest thing is holding MYSELF accountable to this vision.