Deborah Cooke: Author

It’s been a pretty crazy spring for me, for us, and for a lot of people I know. Stress seems to be in the air, and all the doom and gloom in the media probably doesn’t help our attitudes very much. And while there are bad things happening to good people, I think it’s easy to get in a rut in terms of perspective. It seems to be easy to get glum in this kind of environment and forget that good things are still happening in our lives and in the big wide world.

For example, I can’t believe how much I’ve got on my plate right now. I do have some tight deadlines, which is par for the course, and they got a bit tighter when I won the residency job this fall. So far so good. But this spring, it seems as if every time I answer the phone or pick up my email, there’s something else that someone needs from me right now – or preferably yesterday. These are not all bad things – in fact, most of them could lead to good things – but it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the length of my To Do list.

The problem with this is that I started to look at everything as an obligation. Every day was just working through part of the endless To Do list with no chance of ever seeing the end. I forgot that some of these items are fun or could be fun.

Do you hear Julie Andrews as Mary Poppins? Listen – I do. “Just a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down…”

This weekend, for example, we had a family gathering and I was asked to bring a pie. So, I put “bake a pie” on my list and was thinking in the back of my mind that the last thing I had time to do was bake a pie. Of course, in my family, store-bought pies are not an option. On Saturday morning, Mr. C. and I were talking about the weekend, and he said “I’m really glad you’re making a pie for this. What kind of you going to make?” Mr. C., of course, loves pie. His anticipation reminded me that I was asked to make pie because I make good pies, and that’s because I like making pie.

I like making pie. Oops, I forgot that part. Making a pie wasn’t a job, or just another item on my To Do list, but an opportunity to do something I enjoy. So I slowed down, got out the flour and enjoyed making my pie. It was relaxing. It felt good and it busted some of my stress to take the time to do it right. The crust came out perfectly and everyone loved it, and this was the point.

It was blueberry, btw, with a sprinkle of cinnamon, a dash of lemon juice, a bit of minute tapioca and (go ahead and guess) a spoonful of sugar.

Later I reviewed my To Do list. There are some things that just need to get done, but there are a lot of things that I like to do. I feel less burdened now that I’ve separated it into two lists, and even the list of duties will be more easily (and cheerfully) accomplished with my attitude adjustment. Maybe I’ll alternate between fun things and job-jobs. Maybe I’ll reward myself with an afternoon of fun things. That list isn’t nearly so bad as I’d come to think of it.

What about you? Have you felt as if you have too much to do lately, or as if the odds are stacked against you? (Astro Jen tells me it’s going around.) Is there something on your To Do list that can give you joy, and help you find a better balance? Where’s your “spoonful of sugar”?