Excuses

I've been having a difficult time trying to write this summer. I mean, I love my life, but I haven't felt motivated to write about trips to the bank, yard sales, concerts ...

I have a confession to make: I have not done my sunrise walk for over two weeks. When I find myself going to bed at 11pm, it seems so cruel to set my alarm for 5:45AM and deprive myself of sleep I need. And if I were to wait longer ... well ... it might be too hot or sunny. Lame excuses. I need to force myself to go to bed earlier so that I can get up and be active! Plus, this can be my unofficial training for all the walking I'll be doing in two weeks.

Two weeks from tomorrow, I'm leaving for Europe! I'll be traveling a little before and after my conference! (Might as well while I'm still able to defer my student loans!) I'm very excited ... but I haven't really planned much beyond a very vague general idea of where I'm going to be and when. I haven't planned transportation beyond my overseas flight ... nor have I booked hostels. I need to get on that ... but ...

This week, I also have to write my "lesson plans" for my two camps next week (not really lesson plans, because I'm not teaching so much as I'm directing). I've done it the past few years, and while one camp pretty much stays the same, the second changes every year. I know the general idea of the activities I'll be doing ... but I need to plan out specifics and map every moment of the camp time so that the kids have no opportunity to be bored (or act out)!

I hadn't really wanted to do the camps this year ... which is why I was procrastinating ... but as I've delved more into my planning, I've gotten more interested. Still ... I should not have left all of this work until now!

Oh, and my room is atrocious. I mean ... boxes, clothing, books, papers ... everywhere. I can hardly stand to sleep there at night. My dad's advice when faced with huge obstacles is to break the larger issue down into more manageable chunks to avoid feeling overwhelmed. Good advice, but difficult to follow.

Plus, when I clean ... I'm way too sentimental. I'll discover a figurine in a box, and I'll hold it in my hands, looking at it, daydreaming, thinking about when it used to sit on my grandmother's bureau. Multiply that by the way-too-many things in my room and ... it takes forever for me to get anything done!

I have made some progress. I'm getting rid of many things I no longer need or use. No more keeping frou-frou things that I keep only because they were received as gifts and I haven't kept them the appropriate amount of time. These and other items were sold at last weekend's yard sale! Hooray!

OK, enough excuses. I'm gonna go be proactive ... because I've just come up with the perfect reward. The satisfaction of having finished my plans or uncovering a livable bedroom is apparently not enough. I'll set some goals for myself ... and for each goal I meet, I'll let myself read a chapter of Harry Potter. See ... I really want to re-read all 6 books before I read #7. I won't be here when #7 is released, but ... I need to get started on my re-reading goal before I leave ... so that I can read #7 soon after I get back! So ... I'm off!