finding fun

August 17, 2010

woah
i just woke up from a very vivid dream about giving birth to triplets.

[source]

i remember telling people in the dream that the birthing process was easy (!), but i also recall being extremely stressed out about meeting the demands of three tiny babies at once.

residency hours sound extremely easy by comparison! hopefully, i’ll never find out for sure . . . (although the above babies and my tiny dream triplets were pretty cute).

priorities!
anyway, where were we?? ahh yes — priorities. yesterday, caitlin recapped my section of the talk in her post (she doesn’t mention me by name, but her notes are a distillation of my slides).

we had the audience do an exercise where they listed their top life priorities onto index cards, which were later collected for the planner and happiness project giveaways. i sort of regret collecting the cards, as once i saw them it looked like people had put real thought into them! however, it was interesting to read the priority lists. many were similar, but no two were exactly alike.

last night, i got a chance to put my priority list into action! meaning: i had a lot of things i wanted to do, and a finite time window to do them. or, in more specific (listy!) terms:

what i wanted to do
✔ take a nap
✔ cook dinner & clean up
✔ spend some quality time w/ josh
✔ finish a last dictation from earlier in the day
✔ board prep session
✔ get enough sleep so that i could wake up feeling better!

time actually available to me
2 hours and 10 minutes

clearly, it wasn’t all going to happen. honestly, there are times when i am faced with an overwhelming list and i end up throwing up my hands in frustration and accompishing nothing. but this tends to lead to regret and never feels as good as i think it will. last night, i calmly took a step back and made some choices/compromises/sacrifices. the results?

☑ dictation –> done.
☑ board prep –> check. this is higher on my list now that the test is 2 months away!
☑ take-out for dinner (picked up by josh while i studied) = a reasonably healthy meal for the two of us to enjoy together

lightly dressed loop gorgonzola walnut salad + 1/3 of an individual veg. pizza
☑ an early bedtime, meaning that i feel 100 times better today.

i was happy with the above choices and got done what i needed to do while having a pretty enjoyable night.

happiness project
this month’s theme is fun and i am determined to get a hearty dose of it into my life. to begin with, though, i want to take a moment to appreciate the fun i get to have in the every day.

i enjoy writing this blog.

i enjoy my workouts.

i enjoy my work!

i enjoy learning.

i enjoyed making (and eating) this laptop lunchbox:


i enjoy meeting new people and trying restaurants with friends:

the brasserieJO group shot! from left: astrid, hillary, meg, suki, allie, and me.
photo from allie‘s camera

i enjoy hearing what you all have to say!

what will you do today that makes you happy? the simpler, the better!

—————————————————————————

8.16.10

workout: 4.1 miles on a hillier route than usual, at relaxed 9:15ish pace (i don’t think i ever bothered to look at my watch – this is a guesstimate).

cooking: this got prioritized lower on the ladder, and that’s okay! josh was certainly happy to finally get his ‘chicago’ dog:

‘chicago’ in quotes, because this guy was definitely assembled in chapel hill!
board prep: the second half of the NICU section in LYW.

5 Comments

  • Reply Kristina March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    Love the idea of "prioritizing fun"! As the summer winds down for me, I gear up for work and I often take the view that summer is over = fun is over. I think that prioritizing fun throughout the year rather than shoring it up to &#39use&#39 in the summer would be a good way for me to approach not only fun but also work!
    Today, I will prepare for the school year (not fun, but I&#39ll be less-stressed in the long run), walk the dogs twice, go to the gym and watch Episode 4 of "Mad Men"! That&#39s a pretty good day to me!

  • Reply Dorry March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    I love your lunchbox! Things that have made me happy recently: clean, cold sheets and pillowcases on my bed, my iPod being charged for my run this morning, a perfectly ripe banana for my oatmeal and seeing my best girlfriends for dinner last night. 🙂

  • Reply Anonymous March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    I love the laptop lunch box! Today, I went running and tonight I will read. Both make me incredibly happy. 🙂

  • Reply atilla March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    Doesn&#39t that dog need neon relish and yellow mustard or was it hiding?

  • Reply Chelsea March 10, 2019 at 7:25 pm

    I&#39m amazed you can get a side of veggies with your hotdog. At most hotdog stands I&#39ve seen the closest thing you can get to vegetables is a bag of Doritos.

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