Earlier in the week, I had some left-over wood from a DIY job and set about making some garden planters. Much to my surprise, several hours later, I still had all my fingers and thumbs intact and two decent looking planters! I had never done this before and for me DIY, normally means Damage it Yourself! Buoyed by my success, I entered the evening full of satisfaction.
In contrast later in the week, a wet day was looming, so I confined myself to the house. A little time on the computer, checking updates on several work-related matters… no progress… everybody must be on holiday. Bit more reading of a never-ending course text and some domestic chores. By early evening I felt flat and craving the company of others, so I popped out to see friends for an hour.
On reflection, I realised that I had measured my two days, solely by outcome. The first day had produced two wooden planter boxes, proudly sat on my garden wall. The second day had well, produced nothing: no work matters were concluded, long way to go in the book and those domestic chores will be back next week.
Measuring the happiness of my day, by task completion seems as ludicrous as asking for a tape measure to measure what I do each day. Some days will inevitably see lots of ticks on the list of stuff to be done, others will not; that is simply the way life unfolds. Measuring my day by how I feel, seems a fairer starting point. I cannot control the weather, if people are on holiday, or my reading list on my course, but I can control how I respond. My decision to pop out and connect with friends for an hour lifted my spirits. This changed my perspective of a ‘wasted day’ and I had a nice evening as a result.