Taking Five

Sometimes I set out with grand intentions to write something brilliant, or profound, or insightful. Sometimes I walk around with an idea in my mind all day that is begging me to take five minutes to sit down and let it out. Sometimes I find myself talking to my students about how writing is a habit, yet failing to cultivate that habit in my own life around teaching, parenting, cooking, cleaning, and all of the other things I tell myself are more important than my five minutes.

So... today, here I am. Taking five minutes to say something with intention as I've wanted to do so many times over the past weeks and months. While in Pennsylvania for vacation I bought myself some new books about writing, brought along a writer's devotional, and set aside a new notebook, but not one new thing came into being during those three weeks. Not once during that time did I let myself sit and process all of the ideas and images and experiences from our travels.

I came home feeling the usual end-of-vacation despair, the exhaustion of solo parenting for two weeks, then compounded those feelings with anger and disappointment at myself for yet again failing to make time for a few minutes of something that is mine.

I feel lighter already, having just sat down and taken five minutes from paper-grading, from child-overseeing, from dog-scolding, and coffee-getting-colding to say what was on my mind.  Maybe I'll try it again tomorrow. :)