unplanned.

Today slipped by leisurely, and I did almost nothing I planned. I believe this is how summer is supposed to feel. Working from home reminds me somehow of being in school. No matter what, I always had the nagging feeling that I should be studying something. Now I have the nagging feeling that I should be working, at least just a little.

One of my goals for this summer was to practice spontaneity, and in that vein, I had told myself that each week I’d set aside at least 4 hours to do nothing. Unplanned hours, no to do list, free to spend my time however I want in that moment. Its a little bit trickier in practice - I’m terrible at leaving time unstructured. But somewhat by accident, I spent the entire morning drinking iced tea and reading a book on the front lawn. I had an impromptu lunch with a friend. J and I went to the beach and then made a side trip to the nearby pond, jumped in, and swam around with the fishes. I made brownies, I made dinner, I made more iced tea. I dutifully delayed every task on my to do list to another day. It begs a fundamental question that I rarely ask: what constitutes the value of my day? Is it the number of things I’ve checked off the list? Is it my productivity? Or is it the time spent with people I love, the time spent talking and thinking, the easy feeling of being totally at rest? Well, all of those things, I think.

Today is just another day. But it felt full and good.

An aside: I’m really enjoying The Rumpus’ Make/Work podcast these days. I’ve listened to Episode 29 twice this weekend.