In a very funny writing class taught by Margaret Atwood, she described how privileged male writers in the past used to write:
They would wake up and eat breakfast (made by someone else),
have uninterrupted time to write in a quiet study,
then break in the afternoon for tea (prepared by someone else),
wander in the garden (cared for by a team of someone elses),
then in the evening host a dinner party (arranged and prepared by someone else).
Her point was, of course, that this was not the reality for most writers, especially female writers. And I’m sure if you’re reading this blog, this is not anywhere the reality for you.
How many FTE do you try to cram into one lifetime?
And when was the last time you had an uninterrupted HOUR in your day?
Depending on who you ask, the average mother gets interrupted every 3 minutes. This is like working an ER shift in which the average staff doctor gets interrupted every 2-3 minutes. But continue that pattern ALL. DAY. LONG.
Add to that, most mothers complete up to 40 distinct tasks a day, the majority occurring before 9 am.
Is that why you wake up at 6 am like me?
No wonder weekend getaways are so precious.
But also, it explains why weekend getaways and the occasional holidays are not enough to rid you of that feeling of hamsterwheeling-you just can’t store up enough peace and quiet during 1-2weeks away to last you for the rest of the year.
In my experience, you need a decent rest EVERY DAY and a deeper rest EVERY WEEK at a minimum to avoid burnout and a sense of aimlessness.
And in order to have the feeling that your time is invested in areas that fuel you for the long term, you need to understand 2 things:
1. Where to spend your time that gives you the best sense of “aliveness” for your efforts
2. When the work for the day is done
I’ll talk about both in the next two weeks.
Question: “What ritual would feel like a good rest at the end of your busy day?”
