November 9, 2004

Kindling

And kindle with thy own productive fire. --Dryden.

Productivity. This is the concept that I'm struggling with.

Dictionary.com has all sorts of useful definitions for "productive." Culled from these results, here are a few to ponder:

Producing abundantly; fertile.


Yielding favorable or useful results; constructive.


Of or involved in the creation of goods and services to produce wealth or value.


Effective in achieving specified results.


Bringing into being; causing to exist; producing; originative; as, an age productive of great men; a spirit productive of heroic achievements.

These are all interesting and important definitions of productive. If I felt I was living up to any one of these definitions I'd probably have that feeling of productivity!

I could blame my lack of productivity on the recent cold snap. It's not a bone-chilling cold or even the freeze the little hairs inside your nose cold. It's more of a shiver when you take the dog out to do her business cold, a remember to wear a coat cold, a winter isn't here but all the leaves are knocked from the trees cold. I usually increase productivity in the cold weather – add a gray sky and I seem to be able to get a ton done. I don't know why. Perhaps the warm sunny days are too much of a distraction.

RA is a perfect thing to blame for a lack of productivity. But If I blame my RA, my stiff knees or my stiff wrists, then I've given in to it. Every day seems like another opportunity to slip into that trap of "I can't because I have RA." And this just isn't how I want to live my life. I just can't let myself be defined by RA. I don't want to pull up dictionary.com and see me if I plugged in "rheumatoid arthritis."

It can't be an excuse. A challenge for sure, but never an excuse.

Outside, it is still a shivery 40-some degrees and the sun is trying to peek from behind my neighbor's tall evergreen. Inside, I'm wrestling to peak from behind the shady limbs of a non-productive day.

Posted by renee | Filed under:

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