The tangle of priorities

 The last time I updated my blog- I lamented how I haven't gone back to writing, in a long while. I decided to get back to updating this blog more often, in fact, every Saturday (hahahah). But before I could do good upon my decision, life intervened and I ended up prioritizing other things. 

Which made me think: How do you prioritize? What comes first for you? 

I thought of writing this week's blog on priorities. 

Besides writing, my other love is reading. Lately, I found myself reading books on social media and how it is destroying or saving democratic societies. But curiously, in my library- both Kindle and actual, I also found titles such as Atomic Habits, 12 Rules For Life, and Peak. Needless to say, I still have to read any of those, but from whatever I could glean from cursory reading is that priorities matter. If we do not prioritize our tasks, then we won't get anything done. That made me ask myself- how exactly do priorities work- how do we know these tasks or jobs are really, truly important to us? I mean in ten years, would we look back and remember these tasks? 

I don't know the answer to these questions but I did prioritize my tasks last week. My son's baseball routine had the top priority. I also prioritized cooking for family and seeing some episodes of Stranger Things 3, plus grading my student's assignments and writing my dissertation prospectus. 

But I did not prioritize writing my blog, reading the books I had borrowed from the library for summer, or going on a long walk with my mom. Are these not important or not as important as some of the things that I did prioritize. Would I regret not ascribing significance to these tasks ten years from now? 

I also thought about the psychology behind prioritizing certain tasks over others. The jobs or tasks that I did, or thought were urgent and needed completion related to my immediate family needs, my duties as a mother, and my job and career. The tasks I neglected or put off for another day- like writing my blog- I deemed as not significant enough, or somehow not important enough to be tackled on an immediate basis. The question is why? Why did I think that the tasks that would give me more joy could be put off for another day rather than jobs/tasks that needed to be done? I do not know the answer, but I believe a lot of times, we do put off things that provide us genuine happiness. 

Some months ago, I was hearing this podcast- The Happiness Lab (The Happiness Lab Podcast Link) and there are some episodes on "funtervention" or fun-interventions- things that the podcast host does just for fun-- things that bring joy to her. I thought, that these funtervention or fun-intervention episodes of the podcast were amazing. But, not applicable to me because I have a small kid and he needs me so I must prioritize my duties as a mother... blah, blah, blah... 

Maybe I was wrong, maybe not. Maybe I shall re-read this post in ten years and realize that my current priorities weren't priorities at all. Or maybe I shall be thankful that I did the jobs/tasks when they needed to be done. 

So if you are reading this, think about your priorities- what are you prioritizing now? Would you look back at your priorities ten years later and regret them or be satisfied that you attended to the tasks that you did? And yes, if you get time to listen to a podcast, Let The Happiness Lab be it. 

Adios... 

Reflections on writing and habits

I have been thinking about getting back to writing my blog for some time now. Age, I believe, has a way of reminding one of the priorities in life. Writing was always a priority for me, not just writing journalistic or academic pieces - that's what I do for a living. But just writing, writing words that flow from me. Writing is my therapy, always has been, always will be. 

Now that I turned 39 this May, I was wondering how do I tell my seven-year-old to keep following his passion when I do not follow mine? Therefore, back to writing, and back to this blog. Last year, one of my friends from college, Anna, joined the NaNoWriMo (NaNoWriMo) and wrote the novel, Almost Maybes (Kindle book link). I have been reading it. It's really good so far, and I am enjoying it. I felt truly proud of her, that she took the plunge and actually wrote. I could never do that. 

Age, I believe also shows humans what they are passionate about and what they lack. I am passionate about writing but I do lack the discipline, I believe, I am capable of eking out time for writing. So this is an attempt on my part to get back to writing- free-form writing, careless words, that just flows. This is what I envision for myself in 2022- just for me. I am going to write a post on Saturdays on this blog - every Saturday- for four Saturdays. 

However, since this blog post will be on social media, and some of you will probably read it - if you believe you have a passion you would like to take up and like me, you lack discipline, here's a TED Talk I found for you, which helped me a lot. 

Ted Talk on Grit

So that's all for now, till next Saturday, adios..!!!