20 Days of Chill - Frame of Mind

HAPPY NEW YEAR and welcome to 20 Days of Chill 2018, a writing challenge that throws a daily theme our way that we use to create a post. Well, daily, it's 20 week days.

This time last year kicked off by explaining our blog. So if you're new here, check that out. Other than that, let's dive in!

Prompts were published early, which I am grateful for. Even so, apart from making a list that was supposed to help me find a general theme, I didn't do anything to prepare. 

So here I am on January 1st thinking about my "Frame of Mind", today's prompt. 

To be honest I've been in better frames. We celebrated New Year's Eve with friends at their new weekend house by the lake, and it was lovely.

I guess it's safe to say I'm a bit hungover, though. 

The wine was sooo good!

With "being prepared" I mean having at least a handful of posts drafted, in order to have a nice headstart and feel good about being on top of things as opposed to winging a half-assed post right before deadline.

Well, what I did do before Christmas was a major decluttering project in the kitchen and the office, my two main activity areas. Let's not forget to mention my un-decking the halls and disposing of the Christmas Tree which was another half day.

There went my writing time!

Having a nice, clean desk is actually giving me a sense of clarity though, so here's my frame of mind - although still a bit fuzzy.

Listening to Piano Music for Studying, Concentrating and Focusing is supposed to further get me into the zone. 

However hubby seems to have decided to finally tackle his own project. I am unsure about what exacctly it is -  it involves walking in and out of the room, rummaging through boxes, drawers and papers, and it's really distracting. 

So what I am going to do is to get ready to leave the house and take a New Year's walk, further looking for my frame of mind. I'll report back.

What happened is I got ambushed. "Mommy, remember, we were going to finish my logos!" 

Right.

Colin's hockey team logos. Of every possible league. I had no idea there were so many. NHL, AHL, the Swiss league, KHL, the German one, the British one, the Finnish one, it doesnt stop. 

50 pages, give or take. Printing, laminating, cutting, it's a lot of work. This is what we are he is doing at the office. The office-office, where I work to make a little money. Oh, and we came here by car because the young man couldn't find his bike helmet. Where does his stuff keep disappearing to all the time?

And why is all my time going to other people's goals whereas my own take a backseat?

What kind of frame of mind is that, on January 1st, no less?

I was thinking about a theme for 2018, a general motto that is supposed to guide me. I had words like pure, clean or simple floating around, but suddendly I think it needs to be focus or channel. 

Also I need to let go and have others do stuff. 

Hubby suggested we bring something to the NYE party, like the sparkling wine or a cake, I agreed. He called and asked, and they wanted a fruit salad. I was like "I don't think so - you guys make it, I took care of everything for Christmas", and they know it. So they went grocery shoppping, washed, peeled, chopped, and they did a really nice job!

There's only so many hours in the day, and there's always a lot of heteronomous tasks dominating my activities, so what I need to do is carve out, schedule and use my me-time. 

By using I am obviously not talking about mindlessly scrolling through scoial media. 

As I am typing this, my phone is growing a tree. 

I beg you pardon? 

I have an app called Forest - it keeps your from accessing your phone, haha! No quick checking of e-mails, no playing Words with Friends just because a notification told you user so-and-so is waiting for your move, For an amount of time that you determine yourself the app tells you not to touch your phone but to focus on your goals. By doing so you're giving a virtual tree time and serentiy to grow. Nice, huh?

Of course there are very few important reasons to abandon your tree by opting out.

I found this, and I think there a a couple of helpful tips:

Aus dem Rahmen fallen is a German saying. "Rahmen" literally translated as "frame", and falling out of that frame means being strikinly different. Is taking my son to the office on January 1st so he can work on his hockey team logos while I finish this post different enough..?

I think I'm done for today. I hope you're having a fantastic day and make sure to check back tomorrow! There's going to be food!

Now please head over to A 'lil HooHaa's blog to check out the other contributions!