Paper chains

When I was a kid in 2nd grade, I made a paper chain in class to count down the days to Christmas. I brought it home proudly and hung it in the kitchen for all to admire. Every day, one of my brothers or myself would tear off a ring. The excitement mounted in our house as the chain got shorter and shorter till the night before Christmas when we could barely sleep out of anticipation of Santa’s arrival.

 

Yesterday, after weeks of thinking about it, I made a paper chain. It is 16 links long, 16 days till Spring Break. There will be no toys opened on the day the last link breaks, no big family gathering to the grandparents that culminates in a delicious meal.  Rather, in my mind that is when I can finally deal with the growing list of things I need to do for my job that are not urgent, but still necessary, and are making my daily work more difficult. Organize the Jamboards, padlets, Drive.  Update coaching logs. Read various articles and books stacking up on my desk. Cull the exploding emails. Watch recorded videos of PD I was not able to do due to other conflicts.

 

I tried the tomato timer method, setting a timer for 25 minutes, do a task, without jumping tabs, checking email or scrolling Facebook. It works. I swear by it. The tomato timer has always been my go to strategy to get through report cards, rubric scoring or some other ok, but unpleasant task. That and candy. One red vine per report card. 3-4 report cards per tomato timer.

 

The problem is, I just don’t do the tomato timer, because I have no time to deal with the outer layer of work as I am overwhelmed by the inner layer of work. But finding things, knowing things (outer layer)  is starting to get in the way (of my inner layer). So the paper chain is helping me see and know, soon, there will be time. In the meantime, I add items to the list as  I remember them. A place to at least put them, get them out of my head so they stop waking me up at night.

 

But today, looking up at the paper chain, the colorful rings fill me with anxiety, not excitement.  I already dread the day I hold that last link in my hand and know there is a whole other list waiting for me to tackle. No Santa. No doll wrapped in shiny wrapping paper. Instead a long, yellow, lined, legal pad full of tasks. Tasks I have ignored. Tasks I have avoided. Tasks that I know will help me, yet tasks that perhaps can wait a little longer. Till Summer? Time to make the paper chain a little longer.

One thought on “Paper chains

  1. And now I want to make a paper chain that counts down to the end of the year. My husband might think I’ve lost my mind. Thank you for sharing !

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