Flylady and Great Expectations

I read with great interest Flylady’s post on Great Expectations and I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Her description of how we fantasize all about an event, particularly an important event or a holiday, and then set ourselves up for disappointment is right on the money. I’ve done that to myself countless times since I was a child. For example, I remember envisioning middle-school dances ahead of time and how I would look in my new outfit and how the dance would unfold. There was no way that my vision would ever actually be reality, so I was usually somewhat disappointed. Most recently, I have found that I had unrealistic fantasies about family vacations. I envisioned our happy, well-behaved family traveling cheerfully down the road to our destination, singing songs together. The reality usually involved some major vehicle problem and a crying baby. Sigh. So, I really identified with what Flylady was describing and I started thinking about how I might be guilty of this very practice in day-to-day life, too.

Perhaps I tend to think that if I get all of my Flylady missions/habits/etc. completed each day, I will somehow be transformed into Happy Susie Homemaker and the whole family will be demonstratively grateful. When this obviously doesn’t happen, I am somewhat disappointed. Once again, I am reminded that my Flylady routines are intended to help me get things done that need to be done. They do not need to be my main life focus. The end. Period.

You know, I think I’m starting to get that message.

Tags: flylady routines