Do Yourself a Favor

by Kasey Tross

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One great thing about being writers is that we have awesome imaginations. When we were kids, we were always the ones directing the games of "Let's Pretend!" and even now we can go off into our own little worlds and daydream the day away. 

Well...if we had the day to dream away. But we don't. We have responsibilities and stuff.

But just because we have responsibilities, it doesn't mean we have to stop pretending! In fact, pretending can actually help you accomplish things. 

Besides the normal things- like imagining sports commentators in your head exclaiming over your extraordinary laundry folding abilities and predicting that you will indeed successfully fold that onesie in under ten seconds and then saying "She NAILED it! Did you see that? She absolutely NAILED IT!"

What? That's not normal? 

Oh. Well then. Ahem. Moving on.

Something that often helps me when I have things I need to do and my inner brat starts kicking and screaming and saying, "But I don't waaaaant toooooo!" (I know we all have an inner brat) is to think of myself as a separate entity. There is me, and then there is Kasey, the mother of my children, the wife of my husband, the daughter of my mother, the sister of my brother and sister, the first counselor in the Relief Society, the blogger for Mormon Mommy Writers. She's just great, but she's so busy. She needs someone to take care of her- someone to cook for her and her family, someone to vacuum her house, someone to do all that laundry. Because I want the mother of my children, the woman my awesome husband loves the most, to be happy and cared for, and I want her family to be happy and cared for. 

So I ask myself, "What can I do to help Kasey out today?" 

Sometimes, I lay her clothes out the night before, and put important items in her purse so she won't forget them. Sometimes, even if I'm in a hurry, I put some dishes into the dishwasher so she doesn't have to see a sink full of dirty dishes all day. Sometimes I make her go for a walk and get some fresh air. And I always try to get her to go to bed early. I know that those little things help her out and help her to have a better day. And isn't it important for the woman who takes care of everyone I love to be happy and healthy? 

This may seem silly, but so often we are so much more willing to take care of other people's needs, and not only to we neglect our own, but we begin to feel resentful that we're doing everything for everyone else. This way, I don't think about household chores as things I have to do for everyone else- they're things I do to help me out and make me less frazzled. To make my home more pleasant for me. 

Not only does this apply to everyday life, but also to our writing. Wouldn't it be great to wake up one morning and turn on your computer to see that somebody added another 2,000 words to your WIP? And it was good? And wouldn't if be great if the person that did that for you was you? 

When you choose to make the time to write, you are giving yourself a gift. 

So today, ask not what you have to do, but what you choose to do for yourself. Go ahead, do yourself a favor!