Extra! Extra!

In this post, I labeled much of what we've been busy with the last few months as "extra," and I strongly implied that I have too much "extra" in my life. My Uncle Scott had this to say:

"Those aren't extras - that's your life. You wouldn't know what to do without all of those extras."

The first part of that thought had occurred to me as I was writing the post, but I went with it anyway because those activities feel like extra. I think this is mainly because our core lifestyle, the life the four of us have together, is so fun and rich and complete that I would be pretty damned content if that were all we had.

I am also kind of sensitive to outside input. Hmm, let's try that again: I am very sensitive to outside input. If I don't get lots of downtime, quiet spells with next-to-no outside input, I become anxious and depressed. And my mental state can turn on a dime. One minute, I'm "Yay! People! Let's party!" and the next, life sucks and I want to go home and I want to be alone and I cry and I snap at my family and even our core lifestyle seems terribly, ponderously difficult.

So, I try to find a balance. I love my friends and my extended family, I love spending time with them, and I receive SO much love and joy from them. Uncle Scott is right that I would be terribly sorry if I didn't have that. But my intention for 2010 is to remember to make the quiet times and our core lifestyle more of a priority.