Get To

September 11, 2010

My wife accidentally picked up the UK of Runners World and it had a piece in it where a woman with an extremely crowded schedule (I can relate, now that the kids' school schedule kicked in) realized she was thinking "I HAVE to run up this hill" and how many people would be thrilled they could or would have the chance to do that. So she consciously tried to change her thinking from "I have to pick up the kids" and "I have to go to this meeting" and "I have to cook dinner" to "I get to pick up the kids" and "I get to go to this meeting" and "I get to cook dinner." And how it made a big difference in her attitude.

And I guess I needed that. There's this wonderful line in the movie "The Rookie" where Dennis Quaid's character is totally down about not being with his wife and kids and he's playing in the minor leagues and he's asking himself what the hell he's doing, he should just go get another teaching job, and his wife gives him a pep talk and goes back in to talk to his friends on the team and says, "You know what we get to do today, boys and girls? We get to play baseball!"

I love going to my desk to work, but at the moment I'm in the middle of some PITA projects that are wearing me down psychologically. But I need to remind myself that "I get to write today and do it for a living."

So how about you? Did you get to write today?