Solitude

Twice in the last week I have played 9 holes of golf  by myself. I am not one that normally likes to play golf by myself as I see it as a social time, but I had a enough time to squeeze in the 9 holes before the start of the golf league and my normal partners were not available. I actually found the time to be refreshing. I had plenty of time to reflect on items from work and home with no distractions. I had a few brainstorms that I was able to jot down on my phone and walked away feeling good and even played some decent golf.

It got me to thinking about how much time that I actually have in solitude with no distractions. As a the father of four and the principal of a 750 student building, I really do value the solitude! I feel better about my actions at home and school when I have time to process, reflect, and let things go. I am not always able to find the time to golf for the solitude, but I do have a commute that is just under an hour each way from school to home. It is amazing how often I get home and my stresses from the day have been placed aside for the short term. When I was a principal in Eden Prairie, I once told some co-workers that there was a tree just outside of Delano (the approximate half way point of my commute) that I would throw my stressors at on the way by and then pick them up again the next day. I rarely bring my school stressors home or my home stressors to school. The time to decompress, reflect, listen to podcasts or music, and preplan is pretty great. I need to find a better way to record my "aha moments" though as that is not always easy to do when driving. It would be better if I could find more time for solitude doing something I am passionate about more regularly, but for now the drive time will have to be enough.

I hope that you all can find time for yourself! I would love to hear ideas that you have for carving out the time and for keeping track of your wonderful brainstorming.