Day 1
It is the first day of my 71st year. Here is how it went.
Last night was a bit of a restless night. Some milestone this birthday turned out to be. I was alone all day and all night. I didn’t talk to anyone on the telephone because I didn’t want to.
Maybe I’ll talk more about yesterday in the future. Today I need to tell you what happened today.
As I said it was a restless night. I woke up in the dark hours of the morning. I sat at this desk and worked a little on the computer until I got really fatigued. I slept a few more hours. I don’t know what time I woke up. All I know is that something snapped in me, and I wanted no more repeats of yesterday. I may be alone, but I aim for that to not define me. I got out of bed determined to start a brand new phase in life, where things will go right.
New Phase, New Environment
I looked at my little office. All sorts of debris was scattered on the desk. There was a bin and several cardboard boxes on the floor. They had been there since the movers brought them five months ago. It was time I started emptying those boxes and moved into my house.
The first thing I did was open my file box and go through papers and files and organize them, throwing many of them into the trash. Then I took a stack of folders out of one of the cardboard boxes. I sifted through each folder, categorizing papers and documents to be placed either in my new file cabinet or in the file box I had just organized.
After that I emptied another cardboard box that contained things I could keep in the kitchen.
With two boxes emptied and taken away, the room looked more spacious already. “Little by little,” my neighbor says, “Do a little bit every day.” So with two boxes gone, it was enough of that for the day.
New Phase, Clean Clothes
I loaded the washer before anything else. I worked on things in my office while the machines worked on my laundry. When they were dry, I did not let them linger in the hamper, as I was wont to do before this new phase got started. No, I folded them and put some on hangers, and put the empty hamper away before proceeding to the next task at hand.
New Phase, New Daily Routine
Ordinarily I would put on tefillin and daven before doing anything else. But for some reason, I was so compelled to get my new life started, I rushed right into the physical work. I accomplished quite a bit (for me) well before noon, so I had a late morning service. After which I started reading the weekly Torah portion, the Parshat ha-Shavua. This week’s parasha is called “Tazria.”
Much of the chapter is about skin ailments. One such illness is called “tzara-at.” The name sounds like “psoriasis,” doesn’t it. It also must be related to another Hebrew word, “tzarot” which means “sorrows.”
This part of the daily routine should still be at the beginning of the day. But what if I’m inspired early in the morning to do something else, like straighten up a room, or write? I’ll answer that when I conclude this post.
New Phase, New Website And New List
If this phase is going to be different from the last seven decades, I’m going to have to put more energy, and focus, into setting things up online to make money.
So I did two things:
1) I cleaned up this website, Adventures and Travels. I deleted all the past posts, and got the website ready for a new blog.
2) I made a new email list. There will be people’s names and emails on the list eventually. And then the fun will start.
New Phase, New Things To Learn
Some years ago, I subscribed to an online marketer’s newsletter called the Dan Raine Report. Today I got an email from Dan with instructions on how to set up a blog to make money. These were the first instructions for getting started and they were quite different from anything else I have seen. I had to use some technology I had no experience using. In the end, though, I downloaded and installed new software. And everything seems to be working. I just don’t know what I will use them for . . . yet.
All In All
All in all it has been a pretty productive day. I got things done. Little by Little I plan to do it again… and again . . . until things work for me again. And if mornings are the most productive, I owe it to myself to go with the flow.