Tough choices and more than enough

Too much input
A bit overwhelmed
Almost a bit of panic
My FOMO is kicking in
(Yah, that would be my fear of missing out.)

It's all such good stuff. Such interesting and smart people - writers even. I want to get to know them all and learn from them and read their stuff and subscribe to their blogs and buy their books. But I can't keep up. I can't even keep them all straight. I don't have time to read all the good stuff they post, let alone to interact, to comment or join in on discussions. No time to try out their good ideas. No chance to experiment. Not enough energy to take advantage of all the neat opportunities.

...

This online writing class is awesome. In some ways taking a class online is even better than it would be in the classroom. This is one of those ways - all of these wise people from around the globe that we can chat with any time of the day or night. But herein lies part of the problem. If we were sitting in a classroom, maybe I could keep up with the conversation. Maybe. Maybe not.

What to do?

It's not unlike an all-you-can-eat buffet - and those places are frightful for me. Of course I want to try everything, but I cannot possibly digest it all. I'd be miserable if I tried - not to mention how unhealthy it would be - or maybe downright sinful.

So I have to make choices. Tough choices. Agonizing choices. Saying YES to this selection means I have to say NO to several others. And I hate having to say NO - especially to something that I want.

There must be a lesson in here somewhere - or probably several obvious ones that I'm dealing with every day in my work and the rest of my life. Or maybe there's nothing terribly profound or symbolic. Maybe it's just one more symptom of the fast pace that we Americans think is normal.

...

Two months ago I was living in the midst of a very poor neighborhood in the Dominican Republic. In one way, we lived like they did - in that we walked to get our food and we purchased only what we would need for a day or two at a time. Many of them don't have refrigerators but then maybe they don't really need one. Why would they? Leftovers are unheard-of. The concept of stocking up on food ahead of time and storing it away is a strange and foreign one to them.

Last week we returned home to a malfunctioning freezer and had to pitch out a bunch of stinking spoiled food. Food that we had stored away because we had more than we needed. It made me feel a little sick to waste food like this, to throw away more food than they could ever afford to buy in the first place.

Moms used to tell kids to clean their plates because children are starving in Africa. And kids used to suggest "Well, then; send THIS to them!"

So what is the right answer?
What do we do with surplus? The more-than-enough?
I'm smart enough to know that I can't absorb all of the great info available in this course and can't become buddies with all of these creative people. I guess maybe the best I can do is to pace myself, to make strategic use of my fridge... I mean my computer and my internet access. And when I come across some really good morsels, I can even "share" with my friends and my neighbors who might need it. That sounds a whole lot easier then shipping my leftovers to the starving children overseas.

...

So how do you handle your surplus?
Do you make good use of your leftovers?

...

BTW, writing friends, if you're interested in this sumptuous feast, the writing course is again open for new students. I do highly recommend it and I will be there working on bite-sized pieces. I'd love to have you along at the buffet. Jeff Goins is even making one lesson available free so you can get a taste of the goodies that are offered.