Prompts 54-55

Prompt 54: What do you do, even when you do not feel like it?

There are things that need to be done, whether we want to do them or not. Laundry and grocery shopping come to mind. You gotta have clean clothes to wear, especially if you have a job in a professional setting or have a uniform you have to wear every day. And while you could always order take-out or go to a nice restaurant for lunch or dinner, it’s nice to have food in the house to make.

Having a meal plan is good, but most of the time I go without one. On the weeks I don’t have a general idea of what I want to cook, my husband and I have a nightly ritual where we ask each other “what do you want for dinner?” “I dunno. What do you want?” Back and forth ad infinitum until we just order out or grab a box dinner or rotisserie chicken at the grocery store because it’s going on 8pm and we either eat something quick or go to bed hungry. I shudder to think we’ve hit peak married life already, but there it is.

Another thing I never “feel” like doing is going to work. Why can’t I just stay home watching Netflix or reading my books or go on a cross country trip and still have money? There are days where it doesn’t make much difference that I am at my desk since I’ll have a script running and pulling my data. I’ve read so many kindle books while my code runs. I could be reading those books at home in comfy clothes. But I go to work because I like my paycheck that gives me money to buy those books.

A more recent development in my life has been this blog. Trying to have a life when I work full-time and write the rest of the day is difficult. It’s part of why I needed that break last week. I really want to keep up writing every day, even if it’s only for my own benefit. So even when I don’t feel like it after a long day at work and figuring out the dinner situation and catching up with my husband about his day, I still sit down at my home computer every night and type away.

I often joke with one of my coworkers about how if I didn’t need to sleep, I would get so much done. I want to do so many things but there are only so many hours in the day. If I didn’t need to sleep for 6-8 of them every day, imagine all the things I could do! I could go to the gym, go to work, come home and write, and go visit my family all in the same day! The things I could do with an additional 48-64 hours a week.

What about you? What things do you do even when you just don’t have the energy, or aren’t in the right frame of mind, or just plain don’t want to?

Prompt 55: What do you think is the most important question in life?

I hate this prompt. Life is so complex, so subjective, even, at times, abstract. Not one life is identical to another. Why must there be one great question that everyone should seek the answer to?

Actually, I think that answers the prompt for me. Since every life is a unique experience, the most important question everyone can ask, is “why?” Reflecting on your own experiences, keep asking why. Why are things the way they are? Why am I what I am? Why do I believe the things I believe?

Kids are always asking “why?” They want to understand the world. They lean on others to teach them. We encourage them to ask questions, to ask why. Why else, if it’s not the most important question?