Disgrunted Gratitude
I find myself disgruntled right now. Just slightly. Let me explain.
January always gets me excited because it's the optimal time to 'start fresh'. And I'm not talking about promising to work out for 30 minutes a day (trust me, you don't want to see me try and work out. It ain't pretty) or never touching a cigarette again. Both of those resolutions are wonderful, but they're just not for me. My new year usually revolves around the chance to become more organized.
I LOVE the thought of being able to know where everything is and have it look orderly and cute. Just ask my hubby... he'll tell you that I've been a busy bee the past few weeks (yeah... I started before January, I was so excited!) reorganizing our little apartment. I love having a clean house!
My muse for organization started with this blog and this blog.
Bless them.
I also love starting fresh with other methods of organization. For example, I'm hooked on Microsoft Excel. I teach private violin lessons (rockin' awesome job, I know), and so I organize my students, their scheduled lesson times, and their payments on an Excel spreadsheet. Talk about heaven. It's so nice to have everything in one spot, and to know that even though I was horrible at keeping track of everything for the past, oh, 2 years... THIS year will be different. I'll bet you didn't know, but 2011 directly translated means one really organized OCD violin teacher. Heh. Yeah. :)
Well, this year has gotten off to an interesting start where the lessons are concerned. I made sure that I had ample 2011 studio policies printed off, particularly for the two new students scheduled to start the first week in January. I was psyched! TWO new students! That would bring my total up to a whopping 5, but, hey, it's better than nothing! You have to start somewhere, right?!
Well, student #1 (hereafter referred to as Sam) ended up being about 10 minutes late for his lesson. A frustrating and, regretfully, common occurrence. Student #2 (new student hereafter called Joe) had his lesson time was scheduled for immediately thereafter. Well, Sam's mother picked him up on time this week (thankfully), and yet, forgot her checkbook to pay me. Then, of course, Joe never showed up. Um... hello? Joe?
I e-mailed Joe's momma and the next day, her reply was something along the lines of "Oh, sorry. I just got so busy I forgot to tell you! Joe thinks the violin looks too hard and would like to take piano instead. But we'll let you know if anything changes."
Why, thanks.
The next day, I got an e-mail from student #2 (Bob) who said he had been sick all week and would like to cancel his lesson until he was prepared, but he would also be out of town for the next two weeks.
Ahem.
Student #3 (Sally) was a no-call/no-show to her lesson yesterday.
New student #2 (Sue) was also a no-call/no-show today.
Five students actually translates to means no students. Who knew?
So my lonely Excel spreadsheet is still sitting stationary, waiting for its moment to shine forth. Yeah. So, I'm a little disgruntled right now. However, I still don't feel overwhelmingly upset. My only form of income to help support my wee little family is private lessons. I'm at $0 income right about now. Wonderous. But I still know everything will be okay.
Maybe it's the magnet I have on my fridge from a relief society lesson a few weeks ago. It reads "Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude" (read more about it here). That simple sentence has changed my attitude many, many times in the past few weeks. Every time I go to open the fridge, I see that wee magnet. It's nothing fancy. It's presentation isn't very eloquent, but it makes me take inventory of my mood. If I'm a mumbling monster, I change my outlook. I think of things I am grateful for. And, just like that, my bad attitude changes into one of peace and hope.
Sure, it would have been optimal to have all 5 students show up to their lessons instead of 1. Sure, it would be great to have a dog that didn't chew on my houseplants and destroy everything in sight. But life is glorious despite the so-called 'inconveniences' we each have. Could we really claim to enjoy life is we never understood what it meant to have un-enjoyable experiences?
January always gets me excited because it's the optimal time to 'start fresh'. And I'm not talking about promising to work out for 30 minutes a day (trust me, you don't want to see me try and work out. It ain't pretty) or never touching a cigarette again. Both of those resolutions are wonderful, but they're just not for me. My new year usually revolves around the chance to become more organized.
I LOVE the thought of being able to know where everything is and have it look orderly and cute. Just ask my hubby... he'll tell you that I've been a busy bee the past few weeks (yeah... I started before January, I was so excited!) reorganizing our little apartment. I love having a clean house!
My muse for organization started with this blog and this blog.
Bless them.
I also love starting fresh with other methods of organization. For example, I'm hooked on Microsoft Excel. I teach private violin lessons (rockin' awesome job, I know), and so I organize my students, their scheduled lesson times, and their payments on an Excel spreadsheet. Talk about heaven. It's so nice to have everything in one spot, and to know that even though I was horrible at keeping track of everything for the past, oh, 2 years... THIS year will be different. I'll bet you didn't know, but 2011 directly translated means one really organized OCD violin teacher. Heh. Yeah. :)
Well, this year has gotten off to an interesting start where the lessons are concerned. I made sure that I had ample 2011 studio policies printed off, particularly for the two new students scheduled to start the first week in January. I was psyched! TWO new students! That would bring my total up to a whopping 5, but, hey, it's better than nothing! You have to start somewhere, right?!
Well, student #1 (hereafter referred to as Sam) ended up being about 10 minutes late for his lesson. A frustrating and, regretfully, common occurrence. Student #2 (new student hereafter called Joe) had his lesson time was scheduled for immediately thereafter. Well, Sam's mother picked him up on time this week (thankfully), and yet, forgot her checkbook to pay me. Then, of course, Joe never showed up. Um... hello? Joe?
I e-mailed Joe's momma and the next day, her reply was something along the lines of "Oh, sorry. I just got so busy I forgot to tell you! Joe thinks the violin looks too hard and would like to take piano instead. But we'll let you know if anything changes."
Why, thanks.
The next day, I got an e-mail from student #2 (Bob) who said he had been sick all week and would like to cancel his lesson until he was prepared, but he would also be out of town for the next two weeks.
Ahem.
Student #3 (Sally) was a no-call/no-show to her lesson yesterday.
New student #2 (Sue) was also a no-call/no-show today.
Five students actually translates to means no students. Who knew?
So my lonely Excel spreadsheet is still sitting stationary, waiting for its moment to shine forth. Yeah. So, I'm a little disgruntled right now. However, I still don't feel overwhelmingly upset. My only form of income to help support my wee little family is private lessons. I'm at $0 income right about now. Wonderous. But I still know everything will be okay.
Maybe it's the magnet I have on my fridge from a relief society lesson a few weeks ago. It reads "Cultivate an Attitude of Gratitude" (read more about it here). That simple sentence has changed my attitude many, many times in the past few weeks. Every time I go to open the fridge, I see that wee magnet. It's nothing fancy. It's presentation isn't very eloquent, but it makes me take inventory of my mood. If I'm a mumbling monster, I change my outlook. I think of things I am grateful for. And, just like that, my bad attitude changes into one of peace and hope.
Sure, it would have been optimal to have all 5 students show up to their lessons instead of 1. Sure, it would be great to have a dog that didn't chew on my houseplants and destroy everything in sight. But life is glorious despite the so-called 'inconveniences' we each have. Could we really claim to enjoy life is we never understood what it meant to have un-enjoyable experiences?
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