A Christmas Story is one of my favorite Christmas movies. For anyone who hasn’t seen it, here’s a brief overview. A kid named Ralphie desperately wants a BB gun for Christmas and goes to great lengths to convince others that he should get one. Along the way, both he and those close to him have several mini adventures involving, among other things, a secret decoder pin, a visit with Santa at a local store, and plenty of fantastic daydreams. I recently realized that my life is like A Christmas Story in that there is a primary goal I pursue while also going on smaller adventures.
My primary goal is living a peaceful life through healing as much emotional pain as possible. I’ve written at length about that in other posts, so I’ll keep it to a minimum in this one. As for my mini adventures, I generally pursue them through several routines which vary somewhat by day, week, and month. Some things I do every day, such as spending time by my dog Sawyer’s grave in the morning and again at night. I like to go to the local zoo once a week, usually the day after I visit a nearby mall and puppy store. At least a few times a month, I’ll go out swing dancing, whether in town or elsewhere. There are also the two juggling meetings I host every month. Occasionally, I’ll have something quite different pop up, such as a juggling gig or big birthday party for a friend. As long as I still have enough time for most of my usual routines, those occasional experiences are a fun way to shake things up, even if any given activity only takes up a small fraction of my day.
I much prefer this to the times in my life in which I had only a few activities going on. During one such span of time, I had few to no hobbies, events, or social interactions outside of work. My workdays involved a quick gym visit before spending most of the day at work and then decompressing for a bit at home before going to bed. Days off mostly consisted of doing as little as possible at home. As a result, those days largely blended together and seemed to pass by incredibly quickly. Having a variety of activities happening every week keeps me more engaged with life, allows me to more easily recover from painful events, and makes time move slower. There were a few recent days in which I did more than usual or some activities that I don’t normally do. That novelty made those days feel like four or more days each. Since time seems to be moving faster all the time, having more long, lovely days is a welcome change of pace. I hope to have many more ahead of me.