Have you ever decided to test your personal limits on something?
I decided, somewhat out of necessity and somewhat out of curiosity, to see how many errands I could tolerate 'running' in one day. My 'to-do-' list was legitimately long. I did not pad the list just to add stops, even though I realize that every item on a 'to-do' list is ultimately a choice. No one ever holds the proverbial gun to my head and forces me to elect to add yet another errand to my list.
When I compiled the list last night, I gathered up all of the notes that I had strewn about, here and there, with scribbled reminders to do this, pick up that, buy this, drop off something, check on this and shop for that. As I examined my many memos-to-self, I put them in a logical geographical order so that my time and gas would not be wasted, businesses that closed for lunch would be considered, as as well as left-hand turns during peak traffic times to be avoided. Comfortable that all was in order, I added up the bulleted points and found I had twelve stops to make. I wondered if I could tolerate climbing in and out of the car twelve times, thirteen if I counted arriving back home and unpacking.
I decided this would be an experiment with myself and a perfect time to ascertain my willingness to run what I considered an obscene number of errands. My SO was not coming with me, which was a good thing because he would NEVER agree to make twelve stops and I wasn't sure it was such a great idea, either.
I fortified myself with good coffee, a granola bar, apple slices, and almonds. My audio companion was a classical music station which, fortunately for me, had some of my favorite selections scheduled for my time in the car. Mother Nature cooperated with sun, no rain, a pleasant breeze and a tolerable temperature. Four hours later, which I didn't think was too bad, I arrived back 'at the ranch', nonetheless worse for wear, feeling smug in all that I accomplished, albeit a little weary.
So what is my verdict on my self-experiment?
I most definitely would not choose to repeat this type of day but I survived and now my entire to-do list for today is done. Well, almost done. I added one more item to the list.
It is five o'clock somewhere.
Ancora imparo
