Don't Put All Of Your Love Into One Basket

"I'm going now honey", he said.  "  Okay, enjoy your game", she said.

"I'm leaving now for my Bridge club dear".  "Bye Bye, have fun", he said

Sound familiar?  These oft duplicated exchanges are commonplace and certainly healthy ones.  But let them go too far, and they may signify unhealthy runaway life styles which are better avoided.

If you have ever started a project in the workshop or began reading something of great personal interest and suddenly realized several unaccounted for hours had  gone by, you  have  experienced the first warning sign of "guilty of putting all your love into one basket".

I had a close acquaintance who perfected a talent for producing wood decoys.  Much of his time was spent in his basement workshop and he constantly complained that he had little time for anything else.  This is a typical result when one is guilty of our subject violation.

There is a simple direction to follow if we are to avoid this  infraction. "Forced Diversification" is the answer.  I accentuate "forced" because of the difficulty in replacing one love fixation with another.  As difficult as it may be, however, the interests churned up by true diversification could bring to light other activities equally worthy of one's attention.

The broadening of focus may well serve to expand horizons not previously contemplated.  Of course, the prime objective of overcoming the results of our misdemeanor (implying, of course, that it is not a felony) is to avoid or minimize the exclusionary effect that our activities have had on our  close circle of family and friends.  It is important that we avoid aggravating the effect by merely stuffing more exclusionary interests into the same basket, thus negating the diversification affect.

Just as I thought I had the problem licked, I realized that I had infringed on an already perfected concept:

                "JACK  OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE"

The net result of this study is a move to adopt a new rule:
             
                "VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE"

Come to think of it, neither rule is really new, is it?  All routes lead to the dreaded accumulation of toys and exponential growth of the "TOO LONG TO DO LIST".


ps. The compilation of true facts in refutation of the felonious attack on our November, 1963 historic depiction (From the Archives May, 2013) blog is ongoing and I assure you that the prevaricator shall be subjected to his or her just deserts at the appropriate time, even to the obviously cheap brand he or she was nipping at the time of the crime. The wheels of justice move slowly, but with certainty.
 

To Do List Too Long

There was a day when the TO DO list merely delayed doing the things I really wanted  to do.  Now it "PREVENTS" doing the things I really want to do.  Which leads me to the conclusion that either the list is too long or I am not as fast as I once was.

Upon cursory review, the list appears to be the same length as before, with a few tasks added from acquisitions, so I decided to review the efficiency factor.  Could it be that old speedy is not so speedy anymore?  Have the good old sayings on tee shirts, such as "I'm not over the hill, I'm just gaining speed" or "What hill?  I don't remember any hill", been relegated to tee shirts only, rather than actual fact?  It is conceivable that we all may slow down after a while, but I think the real culprit is the "LIST".  The list has quietly expanded along with the earthly possessions responsible for its existence.

My initial realization is that the length of the list has expanded to a greater degree than originally thought.  The exponential factor has a  great effect upon the list, since, it appears, TO DO items propagate excessively in proportion to the number of toys accumulated over time.

I recall reading an old seafaring novel wherein the main character spent over a year preparing his worthy craft for venture.  It is conceivable that, had he acquired several worthy craft over the years, he may never had  been able to "cast off".  Therein lies the solution to my riddle.  Too many worthy craft, and perhaps I'm no longer as fast as the tee shirts profess.

I, of course being a died in the wool old naturalist, would find it excruciating to kick out the old family dog even if I had one, but I admit it may be both prudent and expedient to start preparing another "LIST".  I think I'll head out to the shed and contemplate a "KICK OUT THE OLD TOY LIST".