Forever Learning

Forget yearning; I long for forever learning. The mentors throughout my life have included not only those smarter or more educated than me, but those who may not even know they have taught me something, allowed me to see a situation in a different light, or just plain pointed out the error of my ways.

Just recently, a dear friend wrote a quick text to make me feel better about a situation. Yet, what I got out of her wisdom was how I was also perpetuating that lousy behavior.

To explain, I am often overwhelmed. Taking care of the numerous items on my ever-expanding 'to do' list that includes work, family, home, finances, housework, etc. plus taking care of my health literally lands me on my back sometimes. It is during these times that I may neglect certain family or friends. I may not return a phone call or a private message or an email or text. I may simply be unavailable for days because I am overwhelmed.

Of course the other party or parties don't know that. Sometimes I don't even know that I'm going under until I'm on the floor; so I might mix up some messages, forget something I was supposed to do or cause grief to a loved one unintentionally. And when I'm feeling 'mornal' again, I simply resume my life as if that bump in the road hadn't occurred. This is not fair to the others.

Interestingly, as I thought about what this very wise friend wrote to me in 20 words or less, I realized that I, too, get hurt, confused or angry when I am on the flip side of this equation. At times, I have incorrectly assumed that those in my life are simply being inconsiderate when I don't receive a return missive when I've sent, what I think, is a message of utmost importance - sometimes more than once!

But they are simply overwhelmed. And that is that.

With the holidays here, I am going to be more mindful of how much we all have on our lengthy lists and how my friends and family still care even though we may not be in touch as often as we'd like. And I will be grateful when they can make time for me, never assuming that they didn't want to in the first place.

Now if they would just all read my blog...