I knew more than a week ago that I was going to have the house to myself today. So, I made plans. There was art to make and a couple of readings to do. There were things to prep for the eclipse work I was planning. There was a soup recipe I wanted to try and of course, knitting and Netflix. I had a nice day all set for myself. I was going to have a day of just doing things I wanted to do.
What I did instead was spend most of the day removing snow
and ice from my walkway and driveway. I wasn’t happy about it. I also know that
how I felt about it was irrelevant. It had to be done and I was the only here
to do it.
Once you know you have to do something, that there is no
alternative, it makes no sense to resist that reality.
When I got up this morning, the snow that had started last
night had turned to freezing rain. It made everything slick with a coating of
ice and the inches of snow were that much heavier. If you live where it snows
then you know what I was facing. I bundled up, grabbed my shovel and, with a
sigh, went out to assess the work ahead of me.
The whole time we’ve lived here shoveling snow was a family
event. Mr. Wonderful, me, and the kids each took a portion of the job and got
it over with. Then we’d go back in the house and have cocoa. Being by myself
this job felt huge. I also wanted to complete as much of my original plan as I
could. Some of that stuff wasn’t just fun it needed to be done.
So I followed the advice I give to clients with big projects
or goals they are working on. I broke it all down into sections and gave myself
a deadline and a schedule to get it all done. The deadline in this case was
actually imposed by Winter herself. This evening the temperature is going to drop
to 3F/-16C. Whatever snow is still on the ground would be ice by tomorrow
morning. The deadline for my other work was flexible with the exception of the eclipse
work. That got priority.
When faced with a big project it’s important to be realistic
about your capabilities. Knowing how far you can push yourself and for how long
is a critical piece of information when planning out your strategy. I have also
found, for myself anyway, that alternating things you don’t enjoy with things
you do enjoy makes the whole job a better experience and makes me more
effective.
Half an hour to forty five minutes of chopping ice and snow
and moving it off the walkway and driveway was about all I had in me in one
burst. I divided the territory into sections I thought I could do in that span
of time and started. When I was done with each portion I would go back into the
house, dry off, warm up, and work on the more pleasant things. It worked out.
I got all the snow and ice removed that I needed to before the wind picked up and the temperature dropped. I prepped some items for the eclipse, did some readings, and even made that soup I wanted to try. There was also a nice cup of tea, some knitting and Netflix once I was done.
I’m a bit sore from hours of lifting snow and annoyed that my FitBit doesn’t have snow shoveling as an exercise choice because it should totally count. All in all it was a good day.
