Confessions of a Casual Perfectionist: Day 8

It’s NaBloPoMo Day 8!

Today’s confession: I love to be spontaneous. In fact, I always try to leave time in the schedule for lots of impromptu things.

As funny, calculated and premeditated as it sounds, I do try to leave open spots on our calendar for impromptu things. If I didn’t make a conscious effort to be spontaneous, every day would be bordering on too full. If I didn’t schedule things the way I do, we’d miss out on the things we really wanted to do.

It’s an intricate game, finding balance. All work and no play makes Momma grumpy, and it defeats the purpose of her quitting her “real” job in the first place. When you figure in preschool, ballet, MOMS Club activities, and spending time with other friends, Claire and I could be out and about every day of the week. Throw in other responsibilities, and the days burst at the seams. Yet, on the flip-side, open, unstructured days stretched out over the vast week can make it hard to keep a preschooler occupied, especially if that happens day after day.

I am a perfectionist, so it’s no surprise that I love structure. But, I’m a casual perfectionist, so it’s not necessary for every minute of my day to be regimented. Sometimes, just one activity in a day is enough structure to keep us from becoming untethered, and I’m just casual enough to be totally fine with a day when we don’t have anything planned at all. In fact, those days re-energize me.   (There are days that I purposely leave completely open and unfettered, for that very reason.)  But, if you string too many of those unstructured days together, I get antsy.

As it stands now, we’re busy, but it’s a fun-busy. Juggling what we have to juggle keeps life interesting. I do have time to be spontaneous, and I love that. I think I’ve done a pretty good job of keeping things just busy enough to keep us out of trouble and not so much that we’re run ragged.

I’ve found balance between the two, and it works for us.

So, anyone want to be spontaneous with us? Let me know, and I’ll pencil you in.