Out of Chaos an organizing newsletter
Husbandry
I’ve always been curious about (and annoyed by) the phrase “husband your resources.” What do husbands have to do with careful conservation? I see a lot of marriages where it’s the wives who “steward” the resources.
A little digging on the Internet, and in the Oxford English Dictionary, informed me that the word derives from the Norse hus, or house, and bondi, or occupier, and as a verb it means to till or cultivate. Interesting.
The reason I think about this phrase so much is that I am always trying to “husband my energy,” which feels like my most precious resource. I don’t want to fritter away my energy in inefficient activity; I also want to be conscious about how I spend my time, another valuable resource, and not squander it.
Of course, I want to do all of this because I am, in my 21st Century, New York City way, involved in cultivating. Certainly, my husband and I are “bound” to our home, and while we don’t grow crops (other than a little arugula) we are cultivating quite a few things here. We are raising children, and we have a culture that we are trying to impart to them, exposing them to art and education and get them some fresh air. We are trying to have meaningful friendships. We are trying to improve ourselves in a myriad of ways.
This is why I like to be organized. My time and my energy are too valuable, and I am too protective of them. I don’t want to waste them searching for something, or buying stuff I already have, but can’t find. I want to cultivate a serene home, because that will leave me the time and energy to cultivate friendships and take my kids to the theatre, and these are the things I want to nurture.
What are your most valuable resources? How are you managing them? Most importantly, what are you cultivating? Because that’s the point: We aren’t establishing all these great habits and “husbanding our resources” just to prove that we can, we are doing it because there are things great and small that we wish to accomplish, and managing our time and our energy will help us meet those goals.
I’m so glad I looked it up, because now the verb husband won’t annoy me, it’ll remind me that I’m working towards something, and that’s always a good feeling.