Simply Sad

Today we say good-bye to the best cat ever! Our brother bear, Leo, was not with us as long as we hoped, but he brought immeasurable joy to our family. Peace be with you on your journey over the rainbow, my sweet boy. May you find energy, happiness, and a lifetime supply of kitty treats and tummy rubs. We love you SO much. Thank you for blessing us with your sweet cat spirit!  

Simply Summer

My summer break officially started at 2 pm today. I handed over my classroom keys to its new occupant (my teaching partner, Kristen) and drove home with 17 years of teaching stuff packed into the back of my car. Strangely, I'm not sad. The time feels right for me to make some changes. So much is changing anyway, why not make a career change as well. 

But before I start a new teaching adventure, I have a summer adventure awaiting me. I want to do this summer right. I want to relax, do things that excite me, clean house (literally and a little bit metaphorically) and develop some healthier habits that will propel me into a new school year in August. It's always a little strange, the end of school/beginning of summer. So much potential lies ahead of me. Time is my friend. I have the freedom and flexibility to do almost anything I want. This summer, I want to spend time doing what makes me happier and healthier...which means spending less time doing things that don't. 

One commitment I will make is to DOING rather than VIEWING. Like many, I spend a decent amount of time scrolling Facebook and browsing on Pinterest.  I find myself constantly pinning new things onto an ever-growing number of pages...but rarely do I go back to a pin...rather I'm always pinning new ones. This same phenomenon happens on Goodreads as well. I spend time collecting more titles to read, rather than reading the multitudes I already have on my "to read" list. It's almost as if I'm afraid I will miss out on something great if I don't tuck it away somewhere. While I'm de-cluttering my actual house, my cyber world gets more crowded every day. So...starting today I'm on a e-collection ban. No more pins, no more titles, no more bookmarks. 

I suspect this will be a challenge for me. I have no idea how the process will go or if I will be successful, but I feel compelled to try, in an attempt to DO more than VIEW. 

Simply Deleting

This morning, I hit the delete button many times! And it feels good. In about an hour, I journeyed through every bookmarked web site on my Chromebook and deleted everything redundant, unimportant, unused and broken. What I was left with were some amazing sites that got lost in the madness. Now, everything is organized into folders that make sense for my life including: minimalism, Library (masters degree sites), faith, cooking, photography, writing, reading, relaxation and meditation, and hobbies. Hobbies seems a little vague and right now only holds a few sites about planting and growing succulents. I'm intrigued but would not really call myself a succulent addict yet! 

Many of my bookmarked sites were thrown into general categories, making them difficult to find. Others were articles or blog posts I'd saved for a specific reason and no longer needed. As I narrowed down the sites I wanted to keep, the folders I needed became obvious and now, looking at my Chrome browser, it feels like a tool, rather than a mind-numbing, time-sucking, device! 

If you're looking to clear some mental clutter, I highly recommend deleting and organizing your bookmarks! Jump bravely into the task. It was much easier than I thought and has renewed my interest in some ideas and activities that really matter to me. Good luck to you!

Simply Cyber

Losing myself in cyberspace is becoming an increasingly normal part of my daily routine. It's impossible for me to watch a television program or ride as a passenger in the car without tapping that red "P" or the blue "F" on my phone. Recently, I've found myself saving, pinning and bookmarking all manner of different sites and videos. Why? Some with the intention to show them to someone else. Some because I want to go back and read more carefully. Some because I see something particularly funny, interesting or amazing and surely I want to see it again at a later date.

Realization hit the other day, when I tried to locate a site I bookmarked recently. I almost never go back to the things I've saved, pinned and bookmarked. They sit there neatly (or not in some cases) organized waiting for me to make use of them as I intended. But they sit idle. Because every time I'm on one device or another I find myself simply browsing and adding more to the already jam packed items I deemed funny, interesting or amazing.

Summer is coming. End of the year (for a teacher and grad student) is upon me, and I'm envisioning how I will use my time this summer. As easy as it is to browse and bookmark, what a time waster. And what's the purpose behind doing it? Maybe there's something wrong with me, but I never tend to go back to things I've already picked out as being funny, interesting or amazing. Instead, I am constantly searching and adding more. Kind of like my old-school collection of cookbooks, many of which have never been used. There is short term entertainment and satisfaction in the collecting but no long term pay off. Perhaps it even adds to my stress level as I try to find what I really need amidst all the things I ever thought might be valuable to me. Additionally, as I browse through my kept craft ideas, articles and recipes...I feel overwhelmed and disappointed in myself that I seem to more of a collector of ideas than a doer or things.

So, this summer will be my summer of cyber change. It's time to simplify, prioritize and use or delete my cyber collections. Rather than adding more to a long list of items I will likely never use, I will spend this summer browsing through my current collections and using or losing what's already there. I'm not quite sure how this process will go. Right now it feels daunting and the perfectionist in me is trying to figure out the "best" way to do it. For now, I feel satisfied publicly declaring my intentions. Step one is to simply stop adding to my abundant collections. Simple? I'm about to find out.