songs of experience

I’m reading another great book by Anne Lamott: Plan B … Further Thoughts on Faith.
In the chapter called “Heat,” she writes of “a few mothers who seem happy with their children all the time, as if they’re sailing through motherhood, entranced. But up close and personal, you find that these moms tend to have little unresolved issues; they exercise three hours a day or they check their husbands’ pockets looking for motel receipts.” Its one thing to exercise three hours a day if you are a professional runner - someone who makes her living from running (actually pays for rent and food and health insurance by racing). Its another thing entirely to obsessively run up and down the street in front of your house for three hours a day while God - and the neighbors - bear witness to the demons you are battling. Now, if you are a mother and you are doing this … I say, GET HELP. You do not want to teach your children that being a rat in a cage, running around and around and around on a wheel, is any kind of solution to your problems. The same is true for obsessive dieters. It is meaningless (and, I think, selfish) to spend your life’s energy counting calories and constantly thinking about what food is going in (or not in) your mouth.

Life is meant to be lived, not measured.