Some Quiet Time Just For Me

The last one week was my quiet time. I took a break from everything and almost everyone, shipped the kids to their grandma, switched the TV and phone off, read no papers, listened to no radio apart from my favourite morning show and generally did nothing between nine and six in the evenings. In the past, all my leave days have been consumed by tasks that I usually plan in advance. In fact months before the break, I have listed down all the errands, assignments and tasks that need my attention. This habit finds me back at work more bewildered and wishing for the next break. This time round, I got some ten days off and decided to "go away" for the first five days and "come back" in the last five. This post will therefore commemorate my coming out! I am the worrying type and on any given day I am busy going through various issues in my mind. December is especially a worrysome time. What with the holidays coming, shopping, school fees and other new year obligations. While at work, I am always thinking ahead on what needs to get done even at night. It is hard for me to let go and be. That analysis is the bad news. The good news is that I am conscious of of this shortcoming and resorted to doing something about it. Which is why, I decided to try and take a break from my life so to speak. How did I get by while I was away? The biggest achievement was to be able to read one book in a day. During my younger days, I was a voracious book reader and could devour a 200 page book in four hours. I remember reading Jeffrey Archer's Kane & Abel in one night. A good book would transport me to another world devoid of noise, distractions, hunger pangs, sleep and buzzing mosquitos. With all the din in my life today, I take at least two months to read one book, four or five pages at a time. I have taken to reading two or more books at a time (which I think is a terrible habit). I have been fined lots of shillings for library books that are returned late and half read. I probably needed to remind myself of my old form. The rest of the time was taken to reflect on my life. I have recently overcome the difficult art of honestly setting measurable targets in my life. A successful Kenyan recently said that he views everything before him as a project. A project has a start and an end date. A project is a planned activity. In a project you plan for the tools and resources needed to achieve your desired goal. Some projects are easy to plan, execute and finalise; while others are better abandoned. Some are ahead of their time. A project is definite. Should you view your compartmentalised life in the light of numerous projects, you will match or exceed your targets and also be easy to live with when you fail, pend, cancel or abandon other projects. What am I saying? Reflecting is not a project, but I was soul searching on my past, my present and my future life. What "project" could have been undertaken differently? Which ones were ahead of their time? Which ones were crazy and out of this world? I reflected on all these issues. I reflected some more. I think some projects will need to be brought out of the back burner and into the front row. Some will have to get external help to stay afloat. Some will have to be passed to the next generation if ever there is hope of success. Apart from the reflecting business, I also had some little time to appreciate the quiet of the home without my two kids. Since they were born, I have not known a quiet minute inside my home. Sleep is a premium now, so is listening to my Nat King Cole, Duke Ellington, Satchmo and company. Watching a movie is only possible with sub-titles on. I love my kids very much. I also love an hour of quiet very much. I will not ship them off to a bording school because I dont believe in that. My only comfort is that in another half decade or so, they will be glum,gloomy and brooding teenagers. I wish them well. I wish them cacophonous offspring. Yeah, I reflected on that as well. That put a smile on my face. I want to be around to witness that. Well the quiet time is over and am "back" to finalise on numerous things that need to be done. The kids are back soon and we can all go back to our usual lives. I have missed them. The outcome of my reflecting week will however be put to test in the new year when I dust the 2006 resolutions and rebrand them "Projects for 2007".