The Next Thing

What is the next thing I need to do? What do I need to take care of in the next day, weekend, week, and month?

It seems like my mind is always thinking about the next thing. I know, ideally, I should live in the moment. Embrace the present! Live for today!  All that neat “bumper sticker” philosophy that sounds good but is really difficult to practice.

When I wake up, the first thing to pop in my head is trying to figure out which day of the week it is and, based on that, what I need to do. For example, this morning was Tuesday morning.  That means work and then, weather permitting, an interview tonight with a potential new music director at church (I am on that committee). Once I establish the day of the week and the tasks for the day, my mind then races through my wardrobe trying to figure out what I am going to wear based on what I wore yesterday, what I want to wear tomorrow and the rest of the week and what activities are scheduled (any meetings at work I need to be a bit “dressier” for? What about the interview? How dressed up should I be?).

This is all before I sit up in bed and put my feet on the floor.  Once that happens, its time to check my e-mail, before I got to the bathroom, turn the TV on so I can watch the weather after my shower and, in walking through the kitchen, thinking about what I should fix for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

The day zooms forth and my mind is always thinking of the next task to do.  I finished that project, what needs to happen now? I need to get the bills ready to be paid at work but first I need to take care of the shipping and there is always other sniggly things to do like reconciling various credit card and bank accounts, ordering supplies and running errands, not to mention the hundreds of other little tasks that comprise my job.

While I am taking care of all the work stuff, my mind is also thinking about church activities.  What is happening that I need to prepare for and whom do I need to e-mail about different activities that will be taking place this weekend, next week or the following week? For instance, the bean supper is this weekend so I need to do shopping for that on Friday night (my pastor usually does it but he is unavailable this month) which means I need to get the power point for the Sunday service done before Friday.

Then my mind wanders to the trip to my sister’s house in Michigan in a couple of weeks.  What am I going to take with me? Do I need to buy anything before I go? What about my cat? I have arranged to have him watched but I need to give my keys to my friend who is watching him.

The next thing to the next thing to the next thing.  It seems like my mind is always racing ahead. If it gets too cluttered up there, I do make lists so that I do not have to run through everything over and over again to try to remember it all.

I just find it amazing that my life seems to revolve around the next thing. Don’t get me wrong…I’m not complaining about it. I just wonder if everyone experiences this or is this just my very own personality quirk. Sometimes I think about what life would be like if I didn’t have so many “next things” occupying my mind. If I didn’t have family, friends, church or work. I think that I would miss it. I relish in keeping things organized and being where I need to be when I need to be there.

I don’t think that I am unique in this. After all, there is a whole industry around making pads of paper to stick to the refrigerator, or post-it notes to stick anywhere not to mention the whole day planner business.  I think everyone is planning ahead to the next thing and the next thing. The goal shouldn’t be just to live in the moment but not letting the “thinking” turn into “worrying”. When worrying starts to develop, that is when it is time to sit back, relax and realize that, with all our planning and scheming, we really aren’t in charge.  Take a deep breath, say a prayer and let God lead us and guide us.

Then, if worry still seems to be creeping in, write things down.  Writing it down is like storing data on a flash drive. It isn’t cluttering up the computer anymore but it is saved in a secure location. Writing the next things down unclutters the brain and leaves room for living in the moment.

Now that I have finished writing about this, what do I need to do next?  Oh yeah…. have to get THAT done….