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Culling and Surrendering

I always marvel at people who get ten times as much done as I do in day. Along with awe comes envy and disappointment with myself. So much on my wish-list and so little time. As the years go by, the days grow more and more crowded. After marriage, I realized that my personal time had all but evaporated. I now need to carve that time out of nowhere because all the hours of the day are spoken for. Yet I know of women who are able to raise a couple of kids, manage a home and a career and still make it to girls' night out every other Friday.
Reading this article where the author talks about the difference between culling and surrendering gave me pause. Culling is the choosing you do for yourself. It's the sorting of what's worth your time and what's not worth your time. I have culled in certain areas of my life but overall my tendency has been one of surrendering - Surrender, on the other hand, is the realization that you do not have time for everything that would be worth the time you invested in it if you had the time, and that this fact doesn't have to threaten your sense that you are well-read.
I have culled in my media consumption habits - skimming through a lot of books but rarely finding something worth reading in its entirety. My online reading habits are similar too. Television does not interest me so there is little time wasted there. I have refused to become slave to the smartphone and use what I need when I need it. It would not degrade the quality of my life tremendously if my phone lost a lot if not most of its smarts. 
But there is a lot else to life besides media one consumes. In almost everything else, I have surrendered. The odds of reaching the finish line do not motivate me to try to accomplish a partial goal. That would explain my envy of those who refuse to surrender to the want of time in their lives and find a way to do a little of everything that makes them happy even it that means not reaching the finish line in a single thing. So it is okay to have still born art and craft projects, piles of unread books, long list of unvisited places and more. It is okay to surrender to the impossibility of reaching the end and still have a sense of accomplishment.

Comments

Uma said…
A very profound thought! Lovely article too..Sometimes it is not as important to reach the finishing line as is to embark on the journey.
4:06 AM
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