Either/Or, the first book by Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaard, explains that human existence is marked by the contrast between a hedonistic/aesthetic life and an ethical life based in duty and commitment.
Sunday afternoon, I was faced by my own either/or, existential dilemma: the hedonistic enjoyment of knitting or the ethical grading of papers I promised my students I’d return next week.
Duty won, but I allowed myself a few breaks – not knitting breaks – to walk Lucy and enjoy the beautiful early March sunshine.
I gave myself permission to knit later Sunday evening, while I watched an episode of season two of Victoria. It seemed like a reasonable payoff for doing my duty.
booksandbassets 
That’s why I always tell my kids when they’ll get their work back so I have accountability. Good for you for choosing duty!
If we take time to do what we want to do then what we have to do doesn’t always seem so taxing. I understand about deadlines. If I didn’t give myself time limits many things wouldn’t get done in a timely manner.
It’s hard to choose between “need to” and “want to” but a mix of both seems the perfect compromise. Love that yarn color!
I see your link to the Rose City Yarn Crawl! I was able to clear my Sunday and hit as many shops as I could with my husband while our son was away at day camp. While my work duty was taken care of, my house cleaning duty was not, but I still had a lovely March Sunday afternoon. It seemed a bit ironic that I spent so much time thinking about yarn and knitting and so little time actually knitting though. 😀
me, too. I watch knitting podcasts and spend a ridiculous amount of time searching patterns on Ravelry.
Revelry is a rabbit hole, isn’t it? I redeemed all my coupon codes from the yarn crawl today and kept finding different patterns and ideas and had to tell myself “No! Just knit the patterns you ALREADY have first!”
It is such a lifetime pursuit…..the finding of balance between the should do and the want to do. I’m glad you found time for a bit of both.
Definitely we face many either/or times. It is great when we can do a little of both guilt free.
So hard to get up the energy to tackle a project like marking when there is something fun also on the To Do list!
Sounds like you’re ready to write a companion volume to Kierkegaard: Both/And.