I like to get to the mailing location early and have about 30 minutes to myself to get all the magazines and scales and paperwork and mailsacks set up since we’re doing a new process that is confusing for me. Instead I usually get there about 5 minutes ahead of everyone else.
Also, usually I count out the USPS mailsacks we need and flatten them out and tear the old zip code labels off them and get them ready for our use, but this time I just grabbed as many as the post office had and threw them in the car. I felt a little guilty since I was too lazy to count them and thought I might be taking about 10 too many. Well, it turned out I was short by 5.
I also was too lazy to count out the mailing envelopes that we put the stacks in, and just took all I had. I’d ordered 200 of the small size and 200 of the large size just last month. As soon as we begin to do the count, the first thing I notice is we are short 15 of the large envelopes. How can that be??? I brought all I had!
Well, except for the big huge oversized ones I have at the office when I ordered the wrong size last year and they would not take them back. So I dashed back to the office and returned with the huge envelopes. I realized on the drive that what happened was that I had to have been sent 300 of the small envelopes and 100 of the large, rather than 200 each. I checked later and that is exactly what happened.
Anyhow, mailing ready, it took about an hour at the post office since I’m just learning this stuff and keep getting the paperwork wrong. Thankfully I have great teachers in Mike, Mike and Michelle at downtown Melbourne bulk mail.
On the way home, I drove to my favorite oriental market on Aurora Road just east of Wickham and got some fresh sweet basil and bean sprouts. A huge bag each for $1, what would cost in Publix $2.99. I use lots of fresh basil, I put it in almost everything I cook and buy it every time I am up there. I’m glad they are open on Sundays so I can go after church.
I came home and unloaded everything and brewed a cup of hot Throat Coat Tea and stepped out onto my back porch. It has been a frazzling week. I saw my cat Izzy out in the yard, watching the woods like a surfer watches the waves. “I can catch that one, “Izzy thinks, “I can catch that one.” As he sits and chases after nothing and basks in the only spot left in the yard with a beam of the late afternoon sun.
I would love to be that relaxed and carefree to just laze around in a soft spot in the sun. I would love to not have a pile of paperwork that needs to be done and now. I would love to not have almost every evening of my life scheduled to the minute. I would love to not have to spend every waking moment working to do all that needs to be done because I’ve never learned to delegate and let go. I would love to have my drivers call me back when I call them or at least leave their cell phones on this one day a month. For that matter, I would like everyone to do what they say they will by the time they say it will be done, without my constant supervision and nudging.
WAAAAIIIITTTTTT a minute! WHOOOOOOOAAAAA, Nellie! Wait, why am I vibrating here? Why am I telling you what I don’t want? Is that what I want to attract more of? 🙁
No. Sheesh, why am I dragging you in to this chain of pain? For that matter, why do I keep forgetting who I am?
Ok, so I know what I don’t want, what do I want? I want to be able to breeze through the post office paperwork easily and learn to do it accurately. I want to feel I have plenty of time to do all that needs to be done prior to the mailing four days after getting the magazine to press. I want the mailing to go smoothly. I want to have drivers and helpers I can depend on, who stay organized and focused. I actually really want to attract someone who can take over the entire mailing process for me so I can free up some time.
I already take steps in that direction when I take daily walks around my woodsy trails and ride my bicycle around the neighborhood. Ok, so I haven’t had much time the last several months to actually go anywhere, but so much interaction goes on via phone and email and in my own mind anyway. Sometimes it’s almost irrelevant where the body is…
But I have to remember it’s all about my perception. It’s not what I’m doing that is stressing me out. It’s my perception of what I’m doing that is stressing me out.
I’ve got a really easy life. Yes, I work hard and I work pretty much around the clock, but you know what, not really. Not compared to a lot of people I know. I’ve got it easy. I call my own shots. I do what it takes to do what needs to be done. I know if I can make myself feel differently about it, I can change my experience of it. Period, end of story.
So my job right now is to get nice and relaxed, make a hot bubbly bath, and chill out. If I was a drinker, I’d have one! But what I will do is put on some Danielle Rose – I especially love her “*Be God’s”, “Love Song from Jesus” and “Litany of Humility.” And relaxing, listening to her, I will begin to remember who I am.
And you’ll stop seeing gripey posts like this one 🙂
Visit http://horizonsmagazine.com
*Fave line from Be God’s “With God’s love, change the world with your life”