The White Spot

In the Tree House: The White Spot

By: Samantha S. Daviss

Whether you keep track of your life and your activities electronically via your phone calendar, or your electronic organizer; or you are like me, an “old fashioned” gal that still likes to flip through the pages of her calendar and see all the highlights, mark-outs, and checks; our lives just seem to keep filling up with more and more activities.

Some of these events are for fun, maybe a lunch with a friend, or a spa day just to relax. Or some of those events are all work related…appointments, meetings, presentations, or work related travel requirements that may pull you away from your family for a few days. Or quite possibly, some of those events marked in your calendar aren’t so fun, like a visit to the doctor that you have been dreading…you know something is wrong, but you have put it of until you just can’t anymore. Or maybe one of those little squares is filled with some pretty exciting events, like the birth of your baby, your mom’s 90^th birthday, celebrating your 50^th wedding anniversary with the love of your life, or the grandkids are coming in for a nice long visit.

What ever the case may be, our lives and calendars fill up before our very eyes. There are circles, or squares, or highlights to designate certain things. My personal calendar looks like a highlighter rainbow has taken residence in it. Between my personal schedule, the three boys, my work schedule and my husband’s schedule, we are each assigned a highlighter color, so you can only imagine what the inside of my day planner looks like.

And the sad part of it is I can’t go to be at night or wake up in the morning without double checking it first, to make sure I haven’t overlooked something or forgotten to do something. I realize that all these activities and events in our lives are what make up our lives; they are the reasons we get out of bed in the morning. They are the things we look forward to, or quite possibly dread. But regardless or why we are doing them, these are the reasons we keep moving forward each and every day.

But don’t you just love it when there is that one day…once in a blue moon, but yes that one day where there is a “White Spot” in your calendar. Now I don’t know how you react, but sometimes that “White Spot” freaks me out just a little bit. It catches me off guard; I am not sure what to do with myself, when I have nothing written in the calendar.

I sit and I think, “Did I forget to write something down?”, “Did I miss something?”, or “Surely there is somewhere or something I need to be doing!” It’s sad really, when we don’t know how to react to that “White Spot”.

But after having run across a few in my time, I have learned to relish in them…”Carpe Diem”. Seize the Day, as we would say. Whether it’s snatching the kids up to go play outside, or staying in bed all day watching good ol’ black and white movies or catching up on some much needed laundry. Whatever the case may be…it’s YOUR day, so take advantage of it; and don’t let anyone try to tell you that you have “wasted your time”, because to me…time alive and happy is time well spent.

And if you do choose to spend that day on yourself, don’t even look back or feel guilty about it. We never seem to get enough “White Spots” in our lives.

So along those lines, if you find yourself cruising along through life, going through the motions of activities, homework, sporting events, parties, work appointments, doctor appointments without having run across a single “White Spot” in a while; then you need to sit down and re-evaluate your calendar and create your own “White Spot”.

Not only is it good for your health, but it’s good for your soul too. It is very, very important that we think of ourselves, and “Reset” everything back to zero. Our minds, our hearts, and our bodies get so overloaded sometimes that we forget to just clear everything out and reset ourselves so we are able to continue through life with a smile, and be thankful for what we have been given.

So when you do come across that “White Spot” in your calendar, don’t go looking for something to do, or think your are some sort of “loser” for not having anything planned…being alone or catching up with yourself is a good thing…so relish in this precious time you have been given.