Day: March 6, 2018

Struggling With Overcommitment: Sound Familiar?

Definition of overcommit. transitive verb. : to commit excessively: such as. a : to obligate (someone, such as oneself) beyond the ability for fulfillment. b : to allocate (resources) in excess of the capacity for replenishment.

 I am trying to follow a special food plan to help relieve some serious GI issues that have been bothering me for several months. It’s very important to follow the guidelines, since I am trying to target the particular food elements that are giving me trouble.

First I had to create a chart to map my food journal. That was a challenge on my new MacBook Air, but I was able to create a reasonable template after MUCH fiddling around. (It’s not perfect, but it does the job.) I used to create lots of charts on my PC when I was still teaching, but somehow the MacBook Air is more challenging and/or different.

Next I had to send the chart to my food guru to get him to look it over. He’s from Australia but living in Sweden. We’ve actually spoken on Skype (without seeing each other) and that was another learning curve for me. But that at least was fun; I love listening to his Australian accent (and he’s cute).

Sending this food journal chart was not fun. I spent at least an hour trying to email the chart; I think I finally succeeded in doing so since I received a cc (which I have learned to send myself to confirm that my emails have actually been sent).

Now that that’s done, I realized I haven’t yet written a slice for tomorrow! I had planned to have at least one “post in my pocket” in case of emergencies, but that is not happening. Instead, I seem to be writing them helter-skelter and under pressure!

This is ridiculous since I am retired and I’m supposed to have loads of free time. But since I recently became a born-again community activist, I seem to have very little “free time.” My OLW is “centering.” Clearly, I am not centering either.

Maybe following a strict diet and keeping a journal of it; keeping up with the community activism efforts my family is currently engaged in (to fight over-development in our community); writing a blog every day and commenting on others…and all the other things I must do every week: cleaning, laundry, cooking, exercising, reading at bedtime are a bit too much to juggle.

But which activity/ies should I let go of? Needless to say, cleaning is at the bottom of my list. Everything else seems important! I’d love to hear from you…

Fighting To Take Back Our Town!

I’ve been so involved in a recent bout of neighborhood activism, that I completely forgot I had to compose a post today.  My daughter and I just finished correcting some flyers a friend had copied for us in which she made a significant error. Sitting at the table with the white-out bottle, we felt like two revolutionaries at work in our political cell.

The issue is over-development in our town. The previous town board was very corrupt and made back-door deals with a lot of developers and town lawyers.  The result is there are dozens of plans in the works, some already in construction, for apartment buildings to be squeezed in every nook and cranny of the town…adjacent to and, in some cases, on precious wetland areas.

The construction has been going on for the past year or two, but at a much slower pace.  Suddenly, several stories are being added on to one-story shops in town, and mega-apartment buildings are rising everywhere.  Those of us who love our suburban town, in all its splendid funkiness, are alarmed.  At this point in time we can hardly ever find a place to park, the traffic is dense and unsafe, and the open space is closing up quickly.   Developers are making a ton of money, and when they are done, they will move on to the next neighborhood…the next town.

I know we are not alone.  Friends in other towns on LI are seeing the same thing happening.  We have reached a tipping point; our quality of life is seriously threatened.  I’m worried about the pedestrians who have nowhere safe to walk, the bicyclists who have nowhere safe to cycle, our children who cannot afford these very expensive apartments and must either live at home or leave the area completely.

I know there are larger issues happening all over the nation and I care deeply about them.  But right now, my beloved town needs me and anyone else willing to fight for a moratorium on the rampant over-development. It will take a village to turn this trend around. This is definitely not how I thought I’d be spending my precious, carefree days of retirement!