My Perfect Regular Day
5 Aug
Today was Day 2 (and the last day) of the Innovative Learning Environments conference. I started the day with a session on creativity and, oh my goodness, I’ve never had so much fun at a conference session in my life. We ate a raisin, we drew abstract words and we even had a drum circle. A DRUM CIRCLE! I felt like a kid again and I’m feeling very creative. I need to go home and use up that second canvas I bought.
Something else the session made me want to do was this thought experiment that I’ve been thinking about (and trying out on people) for a while. In the session it was explained that part of creativity is the ability to have some naïveté, to remember what it’s like to see something for the first time or with new eyes. So what I’ve been thinking about is My Perfect Day. And what I mean is not a perfect day where you get to fly to France and have coffee near the Eiffel Tower with Oprah or something, but a perfect regular day. If you could make your own schedule in your daily life, what would it be like? What would you do? What I think this makes me do is to see my plain old regular day with new eyes. Rather than slogging through a day of to do lists of things you just wish were finished already, imagine you had the power to structure your own day. This should be a day that you could do over and over again, full of things that you really enjoy. So, here’s how I see my perfect regular day (at least right now)…
I would wake up early, just as the sun was coming up. I’d lay in bed for five minutes, feeling the snuggly softness of the perfect nest of sheets and blankets I created all night, appreciating the dim light coming in through the window. Then, I’d get up, head downstairs and brew some fresh coffee. I’d make my oatmeal breakfast, find a book and take my coffee out to my scenic patio to read for about an hour (Did I mention I don’t live in my current apartment in this scenario?). Then, I’d come inside, get dressed to go running, and take a run through a nearby wooded park (or maybe on the beach). It would be a short run, 3 or 4 miles at a leisurely pace. I wouldn’t listen to my iPod; I’d just run through nature and be quiet. When I got home I’d stretch leisurely and then take a nice, hot shower. By this time it would be about 9’o’clock. I would take my laptop back out on the patio and write until lunch time. I would write whatever I felt like writing, a mix of academic and creative work. Then, I’d make a big salad for lunch, made from produce I had picked up from the farmer’s market that weekend. Dan would join me for lunch on the porch and we’d chat about our morning and Dan would fill me in on the news of the day. In the afternoon, I’d spend a couple of hours doing something creative like painting or baking or photography or creating a digital story or doing some sort of craft, or I might even do some more reading (When I have kids I imagine this will be even more fun). Then, I’d spend a couple of hours doing chores or running errands, cleaning just one room per day, picking up just enough groceries for the night, shipping a package for Dan, or working in my little garden. I’d get home just as Dan was finishing up work for the day and we’d decide to either make dinner together or walk to a nearby local restaurant. We’d eat at a leisurely pace and talk about our next vacation, which would always be just around the corner. Then, we’d take a walk around the neighborhood, holding hands, and waving hello to our friends and neighbors. When we finished dinner or got home, there would be various things going on. Either we’d have a recent movie waiting for us from Netflix and we’d lounge in some big comfy chairs and watch, or I’d head to my writing group at a coffee shop where we read our writing together and offer critique, or I’d head to the community center to teach a technology class to kids (blogging, anyone?). When the evening activities were finished, it would be about 8’o’clock, Dan would head downstairs to play some games and I’d put on my pjs, make some tea, call my mom or Beth or Marcy or my sister and chat for a while before settling in to bed with my laptop to write my blog, check facebook and maybe read a bit more before setting everything aside and drifting off to sleep. And then the next day, I’d do it all again, and I could because, you know all that writing I did in the morning? It’s selling like hotcakes.
I think this version is probably seasonal too… this one would be late spring/early summer. So, tell me, what’s your perfect regular day? Please share. Once you start writing this out, it will be hard to stop, I promise.









