Planning - Optimist or Pessimist?

Summer only started and I'm already planning my autumn. Crazy! Maybe it's the heat affecting my mind? No ... it's that desire I have to put everything in order and have things progress in a predictable manner. It's me trying to control my future once again, when I know that's almost impossible to do. But I'm going to continue trying, because I'm an optimist (years of practice and turning my back on the dark side).

Although the past is part of what makes you, the past isn't
what controls you. That final control is really up to you, and
I consciously choose to look at the bright side and attempt
to find the beauty in the world and in other people. 

Are you an optimist or a pessimist? Do you have a positive or a negative outlook on the world? When stuck in traffic, do you look at the surroundings and try and notice the beauty around you or do you growl at the cars moving at a pace that a snail could easily beat instead? Sometimes looking at the bright side of things takes concentration and a determination to find something positive in a bad situation. I'll notice the small things like the birds flying overhead, the song playing on the radio, or the small gophers that line the freeway greenspace, watching the cars pass by with wonder and a shake of their furry heads.

There are so many amazing things that nature shows to us - such
beauty that it can take your breath away. When you focus
on the anger, the beauty often passes by unacknowledged. 

When I look at huge tasks (such as getting our library into a reduced and organized state or working on getting our retirement into a position of possible reality) I try to reduce the huge tasks into smaller, more achievable slices. This allows me to work on them a little bit by little bit and achieve something large through nibbles. I admit that working at nose level can distort the big picture. It's the danger of that type of focus.

Planning an event or, in this case, a visitor and
the next year's schedule, can be daunting. Eat that
cake one bite at a time and it's more manageable. 

Yet, here I am, planning months ahead, giving myself deadlines for the achievement of certain tasks. Some things are scheduled far in advance and I have to work within those dates - the State Fair dates are determined years in advance and the Renaissance Festival will start in August and end in October. My BFF Sharon has emailed to confirm that we will once again be sharing the long Labor Day weekend with sore feet, hot weather, possible thunderstorms, and more memories to add to our long experiences together. Yeah - sometimes planning can be a good thing! Now to get more done on that library today so that she might actually have a place to sleep when she arrives in September. Have a great Wednesday, all!