Tuesday, January 14, 2014

My priorities, your priorities.

Not too long ago, I read a friend's lament on Facebook that she did not have more time in her life to read. Ever the advocate for anyone and everyone to get as much reading in their lives as possible, I was all ready to jump in with my suggestions of several things she could give up every so often so as to have more time to read. You know, non-essential things like making the bed or getting dressed or doing the dishes...

There I was, fingers poised over my keyboard, when all of a sudden a thought struck me- this woman is most likely already very aware that if she left the dinner dishes in the sink one night she could get a good hour of reading in before bed. For whatever reason, however, she chooses not to do that. For her, it isn't worth it. I regularly let dishes languish in my sink in favor of a book, but that's just me.

I am not entirely sure why this was such a revelation to me, but it was: I read as much as I do because it is fairly high on my priority list. People who don't read as much as they would like do so because there are other things that rank higher on their priority list. And that's okay! Put another way, my friend gets her dishes done each evening and enjoys the peace and beauty of a clean kitchen because it ranks up there at the top of her priority list. I, on the other hand, do not get to my dishes every night and yes, that fact bugs me, but not enough to change my ways. And that is also okay!

Life is full of things that we simply do not have the time or energy to do or sometimes even care about. It is sad, but true. Thus was born the concept of priorities. We must pick and choose what we can get done in a day and we must pick and choose what we will most care about. Some things must fall by the wayside and we have to be okay with that.

Perhaps more importantly, however- we must also be okay with the things that our friends and loved ones let fall by the wayside...even if that thing is reading.

1 comment:

Melissa said...

I loved this post, Jill. I'm often given "flack" because I read so much and people tell me about how I must have so much time on my hands, but really with the invention of audio books (and the robot voice that can read to me on my kindle) not to mention getting up early or going to bed later, nap time etc. I make it a priority.