Are Countdowns Bad?
Confession time: I make countdowns. Sometimes they appear in my gchat status. Sometimes they appear on a notebook/white board/small despair.com calendar. Either way, I do find myself counting.
I have this debate a lot with the husband. He always says that countdowns are a way of not “living in the present” because we are always waiting for the next thing. We are trying to get to the end of the countdown – it’s like a race. Lately, I have been counting down to the big event at work. Years in the making, this event has dominated our meetings, our schedules, and our lives. We have been pushing towards one day, and after that, what happens?
It’s been in my natural human nature to just…start a new countdown. Isn’t that the neat, orderly way to do it? Moving from one list to another, from one countdown to another. The thing about countdowns is that they always come to an end, and we’re left to figure out how we feel about it.
In the case of work, it’s easy to become joyful about a large project ending or being completed. I think I’ll have mixed emotions. It’s going to be the end of something, but hopefully not the end of us doing something interesting. There’s always that fear that the end will be AS stressful as the beginning.
Living in the present has always come naturally to my husband. It seems to be a part of his culture, just the type of person he is. He really savors things – like the way he doesn’t miss something until it’s in front of him. It’s a really hard quality to develop in life, at least for me. I come from a family of countdowners. We like to get things over with.
This includes but is not limited to: doctors/dentist appointments, trips (i.e. counting down TILL a trip happens), presentations, proposals, work deadlines, half marathons, tax season.
What I’ve been trying to implement in my own house is a healthy combination of our two paths. We can countdown to a certain point – as long as the counting isn’t taking away from the living.
In case you’re curious, the work countdown stands at 34.
Career, Challenges | Beth Oppenheim March 24, 2010
2 Comments to “Are Countdowns Bad?”
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By JR Moreau, March 25, 2010 @ 3:22 pm
My problem with countdowns: I feel like an idiot if I don’t make good on what I tell everyone I’m going to do. I hate losing face, but I take the risk of it sometimes anyways. I don’t think it’s a way of not living in the future though, you’ve gotta set goals for yourself imho.
By Sam, March 25, 2010 @ 10:18 pm
I think countdowns are great in certain situations, but I agree that they definitely should interfere with enjoying the present. I used to write countdowns on my calendar between times Rob and I would see each other. When I was little, we would often make paper chains to count down to a vacation. My mom has an informal one going for when this whole health ordeal will be over with. Countdowns can be good and make us feel better about taking things one day at a time, but we just can’t get too caught up in the counting down. Great post