Tuesday’s Tip – Life in Small Bites

I’ve talked about this before but again I’ve come to realize that I can only do life in small bites. What I mean is, I have these grand ideas of projects such as organizing files, scanning old photographs, etc. but I can only do so much at one sitting; especially when the world of present living gets in the way of exploring the past.
Take the other day for instance, I had this idea for a blog post which entailed a couple of historical items I had on hand. I scanned those first. One bite down. Then I had to go make breakfast for my children (who all happen to be home this weekend). Much later after the girls drifted off to other events and projects of their own, I was able to work some more on my blog post. Another bite taken. The girls and I had plans for getting back together later in the day, so I only had so much time and had to finish up my blog project another day.
I am meant for a lot of things: not just exploring the past, but making memories with my children, impacting my community for good, even just “being.” I used to be terrible at starting some big project and finding it difficult to tear myself away from it long before I was finished. I would get grumpy about making dinner when I was in the middle of finding dead ancestors. Now I’m getting better at understanding that all these things I want to do take time. I need to exercise self-control and take it all one bite (or day) at a time.
I realize that this blog itself is an excellent way to do my focus on my research one bite at a time. Each post can be just one bite of part of a larger project I am working on. For instance, I am planning a post of my Bird Hardy Family Record and its provenance (which I mentioned in my post here and another post here). This goes towards my projects of getting my photos and records digitized and compiling an inventory of them. It’s a small bite, but it certainly helps keep me from biting off more than I can chew!

Comments

  1. Queen BeeFebruary 27, 2012 at 9:53 PM

    I can identify with your post as I have had the same experience. It can be so difficult to tear yourself away from genealogy research when you want to complete a project or find that next ancestor. I've had to learn to balance my priorities. It's still a challenge at times, but I don't want to have regrets later on because I've spent too much time on genealogy or anything else. Family needs to come first, thanks for the reminder.

    ReplyDelete
  2. DawnFebruary 28, 2012 at 7:16 AM

    You're welcome, Queen Bee, and thanks so much for your comment! "In all things balance" -- a motto I am reminded to live by time and time again. I'm just a little impatient sometimes :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Bannerman Family Mystery

Image
Among the many old photographs originally in my grandfather's possession, there is one that has haunted me and has remained a mystery all these years. The photograph is of three children with their names and ages typeset at the bottom of the photograph. “William, 10 years, Robert 8, and Maggie Bennerman, 4 Years Old.” Who were they? My grandfather was not able to identify them, though his memory was remarkably sharp and accurate until his death at the age of 96. I first noticed this picture and the others that my grandfather had in 1989 when I embarked on the adventure of genealogy. Since then I have traced all of my father's ancestors at least back to the early 1800s (and a lot beyond). But I never ran into the Bennerman name, anywhere. Not as ancestors of mine, not even as neighbors. I am lucky enough to even have a name to match the faces in the photograph in the first place. Early in my research, I visited the Tampa stake of the LDS church and I mentioned the Bennerman na
Read more

Friday Faces from the Past: Moorefield

Image
I am perusing through old photographs from my paternal grandparents side these days. In essence, I have been visiting Kentucky although really only in my mind. Things like this come and go in spurts. I have not looked at the research I have done on these lines in a number of years but every now and them something draws me back. What pulled me this time was an email from a gentleman who saw a photograph on my blog that was taken by Randolph in Cadiz, Kentucky (see the photo here ). This gentleman informed me that he and another local historian were doing research on this photographer who did work in Cadiz from about 1893 to 1913. He wanted to know if I would share an electronic copy of the photograph and also asked if I had anymore photographs taken by Randolph. I hunted around and found one more. This is a photograph identified by my grandfather as "My daddy's first cousin [John Willis Watts], Otis Moorefield." Otis Moorefield (1875-1958) Until I put the two tog
Read more

COG: The Love of Reading

Life is funny sometimes, wouldn’t you agree? I sit here this evening checking out my blogger dashboard and find Jasia’s post about reading for the Carnival Of Genealogy . Ah, reading! One of my absolute favorite pastimes. And Jasia wants to know my family’s history of reading? How ironic that on the third anniversary of my father’s death, I am asked that question, for he was influential in the development of my love of reading. Furthermore, I was in a training at work today and we were asked to discuss characteristics about our fathers that we would like to keep, toss, or add in reference to their values, beliefs, etc. One of the items I listed in the “keep” column was his emphasis on the importance of reading and education. My mother tells the story that my father had heard that reading to your child was a good thing, so he instructed my mother to read to me every night. (Until I was about eight, he was often away because of his Navy service.) He purchased several books for me,
Read more