The Hurrieder I Go...

the Behinder I get.

And this is really getting to be not much fun at all. The pile of crap on my desk just keeps getting higher and higher, and I feel trapped in this terrible double, triple, quadruple bind of knowing I need (and wanting) to slow down, and to eliminate a lot of the extraneous distraction from my life, yet still feeling like there is so much more that I want and NEED to do, and not being able to keep up...whether by working smarter, or harder, or longer, or by delegating the "non-essential" tasks to others, or even by "dumping" altogether the things in my life which are neither urgent nor important to me.

If anything, I feel like I need to find MORE time in my life: to read, to meditate, to exercise and pursue my physical therapy, or even just to nap and take it easy...something I seem to have been able to do far more easily when I felt healthy than for some strange reason I am able to now.

At least I did have one nice moment of inspiration today though, when I saw a version of this in the newly-released fall "Forum," which is Seventy-Five State Street's Resident magazine. Afterwards found several other variants on the internet, and since no one seems to be willing to claim the original as their own, I tweeked it a little until I got a version that suited me, and have now become "Anonymous" again myself. (Mark my words, this will probably turn out to be another Fulghum "Kindergarten" kind of tale, but until it does....)


[by Anonymous]

If you can start the day without caffeine;
If you can always be cheerful,
ignoring aches and pains.
If you can resist complaining, 
and boring people with your troubles.
If you can eat the same food every day
and still be grateful for it.

If you can understand when your loved ones
are too busy to give you any time.
If you can take criticism and blame without resentment,
And overlook those times when those you love
take it out on you when,
through no fault of yours,
something goes amiss.

If you can ignore a friend's limited education
and never correct him,
If you can resist treating a rich friend
better than a poor one,
If you can face the world
without lies and deceit,
If you can conquer tension
without medical help,

If you can relax without liquor,
If you can sleep without the aid of drugs,
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart
you harbor no prejudice
against creed, color, religion or politics....

Then, my friend, you are almost as good a person as your dog!