They are penetrating the Bureaucracy and Being present.

I recently changed insurance, which has led me on a journey to penetrate the bureaucracy. I feel like Mr. Incredible in the cartoon movie helping his client work the insurance system. Now I am a client on a fixed income, figuring out how to cover the cost of my costly drug. I received a sample dose for my June shot and hoped to have a workaround for my July dose. Working the system is something I learned in high school and college. I discovered the wonderful world of bureaucracy. When I did not have suitable classes or standing to get what I wanted, I learned that if I stood in enough lines and waited, someone behind a desk or counter could stamp a document to move me to where I wanted to go. My slogan for anyone getting a higher education or tier 5 medication coverage is to learn to wait in help/exception lines. It's where smart people go to get things done. Nb. A headset allows you to make dinner while waiting an hour on hold.

The new basic life skills what do essential skills mean?

My husband and I have joked about younger people not knowing how to use a rotary phone, write a check, or read cursive. How do they function? There are times when those skills are needed. It occurred to me that there is a new set of basic skills we should know how to use to function in society—changing wireless networks, recovering, changing, and saving new passwords. Or, making the printer and the scanner discoverable from my phone for printing and also knowing which USB cord we need to transfer data and fast charge. There are going to be more opportunities to employ these modern skills over reading cursive shopping lists. What are the new skills you think are essential?

What am I reading?

Four Thousand Weeks | Oliver Burkeman

This is Part Two. In my last post, my takeaway was that you can't do everything. In the words of a time management author, "Time management is an agreement among people about what does not get done." Since last week, when I had 1000 weeks of life left, I have one less week and stand at 999 weeks to go. Sadly, my dog now only has 99 weeks to go. I promised to follow up with uplifting insights and skills from the book's second half.

Here we go. The ten parting nights from 4 thousand weeks: 1. Work on one or two projects until completed one for work one for you. 2. Make tough choices about tasks and how much time you commit daily. I say I vote using time for what I care about. 3. Decide in advance what projects you will fail to do. However, in a relationship, a honey-do list is not something you can afford to ignore. It's not the task you miss; it's the relationship. 4. Small wins. It has worked for me while I have been sidelined. Focus on what you have completed. In practice, it goes hand in hand with my to-do list. When I crash and feel I have done nothing, it boosts me to look at what I have checked off my list. 5. Pick your battles. Not my monkey, not my circus. 6. Limit the use of devices. I get sucked into social media like melted butter in a hot baked potato. I remove apps from my phone, so I must reload them when I want them. It cuts down on random doom scrolling. Also, I put my devices in a big jar with a lid. I have to open the top to get at them. I call it phone jail. 7. Keep novelty in your life by paying attention to what you are doing in the present. Like a Jedi with Yoda on your back. 8. Stay curious about people and situations. Don't get worried when things don't go your way. 9. Do it now! Don't put activities off if you don't act on them immediately. They may never get done. 10. Do nothing, take time to do nothing, and experience how much time slows down.

My takeaway.

I was disappointed to find out I couldn't do it all. I am excited to make the most of the time I have left. There are tools to help me get more done. Don't let the same tools fool me into missing out on the best part of life: being present.